LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


OF* 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
Accessions  Na*jff5$*£:         Class  No. 


THE 


COMPLETE    WORKS 


OF 


REV.  DANIEL  A.  CLARK, 


EDITED    BY   HIS 


JAMES  HENRY  CLARK,   M.D., 

WITH 

A    BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH, 

AND  AN  ESTIMATE  OF  HIS  POWERS  AS  A  PREACHER, 
BY  REV.   GEORGE   SHEPARU,   A,E, 

PROFESSOR  OF  SACRED  RHETORIC,  BANGOR  THEOLOGICAL,  SEMINARY. 

SECOND  EDITION. 

IN    TWO    VOLUMES. 

VOL.  I. 


NEW  YORK: 
BAKER    AND     SCRIBNER, 

145  NASSAU  STREET. 

1846. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1842,  by 
J.  HENRY  CLARK,  M.D., 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  South- 
ern District  of  New  York. 


Entered  According  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1846,  by 
JAMES  HENRY  CLARK, 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  South- 
ern District  of  New  York, 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  PATTON,  D.  D. 


THE  selections  of  new  matter  for  these  volumes,  have  been 
made,  principally,  from  the  manuscripts  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  sermons,  lost 
several  years  since,  have  not  been  recovered,  as  among  them 
were  the  celebrated  "  Trumpet  Sermons,"  which  were  preached 
in  various  places  with  much  profit  to  the  hearers,  as  well  as  others 
valuable  for  their  discrimiatng  thought,  and  happy  method  of 
illustration.  Among  the  sermons,  not  used  in  these  volumes,  are 
many,  containing  rich  trains  of  thought — but  they  are  too  un- 
finished to  be  given  to  the  press.  They  were  written  under 
the  pressure  of  pastoral  duties,  without  having  received  the  bene* 
fit  of  a  careful  revision.  Others  are  only  partly  written  out, 
having  simply  topics  noticed,  to  guide  the  mind  of  the  preacher. 
Had  Mr.  Clark  written  out  these,  it  would  have  been  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  have  made  up  a  third  volume  of  valuable  sermons. 

It  has  been  judged  desirable  to  retain  the  name  of  "  Short  Ser- 
mons," for  the  plans  of  sermons,  some  of  which  were  published 
during  the  lifetime  of  Mr.  Clark.  The  number  has  been  con- 
siderably increased,  and  will  thus  furnish  some  valuable  hints,  as 
well  as  instruction,  in  the  art  of  planning  sermons.  Concerning 
the  miscellaneous  matter,  it  is  proper  to  remark,  that  many  of  the 
pieces  first  appeared  in  the  periodical  press,  and  at  the  time, 
awakened  considerable  interest.  Such  as  are  here  collected,  and 
republished,  are  pieces  of  permanent  value.  They  will  illustrate 
one  trait  of  his  character,  the  seizing  upon  passing  incidents,  and 


iV  INTRODUCTION. 

vividly  impressing  the  mind  with  some  great  moral  principle. 
Some  of  the  miscellaneous  matter  will  be  ranked  among  the 
happiest  efforts  of  his  pen. 

The  incidents  of  his  life,  and  the  estimate  of  his  powers  as  a 
preacher,  have  been  drawn  up  by  a  gentleman  who  has  long  been 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Clark,  and  whose  mind,  and  habits  of  thought, 
were  greatly  influenced  by  his  preaching. 

The  very  favorable  manner  in  which  the  volumes  of  sermons 
published  several  years  since  were  received  by  the  public,  and  the 
fact  that  they  are  now  out  of  print,  furnish  encouragement  that 
the  "  Complete  Works  of  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark,"  will  meet  with 
the  public  favor — especially  when  it  is  known  that  the  profits  aris- 
ing from  these  volumes  will  help  to  render  comfortable,  in  the  de- 
cline of  life,  the  widow  of  a  faithful  and  highly  gifted  minister 
of  the  New  Testament. 


CONTENTS    OF  VOLUME  I. 


PAGE 

Rev.  Dr.  Patton's  Introduction, 3 

Preface  to  a  Volume  of  Sermons  published  in  1826,        ...  7 

Introduction  to  three  Volumes  of  Sermons  published  in  1836,       -  8 

Biography  of  the  Author, 9 

SERMONS. 

L— The  Church  Safe,            -        -       •• '"•• '  •- -::  -'-•- ,;     •  '' ;;  -  41 

'        II. — Nothing  safe  but  the  Church,      -        -        -        -        -  56 

III. — Perdition  a  Dark  Spot  in  the  Moral  Landscape,  68 

IV.— The  Sanctuary, 78 

V. — Mirror  of  Human  Nature, 92 

VI.— The  Son  of  God  must  be  Reverenced,         -        -        -  104 

VIL— The  two  Champions  Contrasted,     ....  U2 

VIIL— The  Soul  reluctantly  made  fast  to  Earth,  124 

IX.— A  Likeness  taken  in  the  Field,        ....  133 

X.— The  Perfected  Good  Man,           -        -        -        -        -  150 

XL— The  Perfected  Good  Man,  No.  II.,           ...  159 

XII.— Iniquity  Finished, 167 

XIIL— Obedience  the  Practical  test  of  Affection,        -        -  179 

XIV. — The  Christian's  Sheet  Anchor,            -        -        -        .  188 

XV.— Heavenly  Fellowship, 198 

XVI.— The  Wise  Builder,             -        -     .  -        -        -        -  205 

XVIL— The  Controversy  Settled,        ......  220 

XVIII. — The  Burning  Bush,    -        -        -        -        -        -        -  232 

XIX.— The  True  God  a  Sure  Defence,        ....  241 

XX.— The  True  God  a  Sure  Defence,  No.  II.,       ...  247 

XXL— The  Mysteries  of  Providence,  253 

XXIL— The  Ways  of  G/>d  Unfolded, 265 

XXIIL— -The  Loiterer  at  the  Vineyard,  275 

XXIV. — Christ  must  have  his  own  place  in  his  Gospel,             -  286 


Vi  CONTENTS. 

XXV. — The  Law  and  the  Gospel  conjointly  sustained,  298 

XXVL— Impenitent  Men  destitute  of  Holiness,  308 

XXVII.— Only  one  true  God,  318 

XXVIII. -The  Index  Sure,                                          -        -        -  329 

XXIX.— The  Index  Sure,  No.  II.,  338 

XXX.— The  Wise  Man  wise  for  Futurity,      ....  346 

XXXI.— The  Desperate  Effort,     -  362 

XXXIL— Concio  ad  Clerum,      -                                 ...  372 

XXXIII. — The  Mercies  of  God  not  obediently  reciprocated,  383 

XXXIV.— The  industrious  Young  Prophets,  397 

XXXV.— The  Nature  and  Results  of  Sanctification,           -        -  414 

XXX VI.— The  Means  of  Sanctification,  421 

XXXVII. — The  Great  Physician,                 427 

XXXVIII.— The  Man  of  God  Developed,  434 

XXXIX.— Man  his  Brother's  Keeper, 447 

XL.— Man  his  Brother's  Keeper,  No.  II.,  457 

XLL— True  Piety  peacefully  Pleasant,          ....  474 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE   PREFACE 

-  9 

OF  A  VOLUME  OF  SERMONS  PUBLISHED  BY   THE  AUTHOR  IN  1826. 


*****  I  have  long  believed,  that  sermons  of  a  distinguish- 
ing character,  and  in  a  popular  dress,  having  point,  and  pungency 
of  application,  are  very  much  needed  in  the  American  Churches 
Most  of  the  sermons  printed  are  occasional,  or  if  otherwise,  print- 
ed singly,  and  seldom  collected  into  volumes,  or  extensively  circu- 
lated, are  quite  out  of  reach.  They  have,  on  a  limited  scale,  done 
great  good,  but  most  of  them,  however  excellent,  are  at  length 
consigned  to  neglect,  with  waste  papers. 

Many  excellent  volumes,  too,  have  been  published,  and  have  edifi- 
ed the  Churches  and  helped  mature  for  heaven  a  multitude  of  believ- 
ers ;  but  which  from  their  occasional,  metaphysical,  or  exclusively 
doctrinal  character,  are  judged  unsuitable  to  be  read  in  evening  meet- 
ings, to  which  so  often,  even  good  men,  bring  a  mind,  as  well  as  a 
body,  worn  down  with  fatigue ;  and  need  for  their  edification,  some 
repast  that  can  hold  their  powers  waking.  Discourses  adapted  to 
such  an  occasion,  which  must  often  be  read  badly  to  a  dull  audi- 
ence, must  have  poured  into  them  all  the  novelty,  vivacity,  force, 
and  pungency  possible.  The  truth  should  be  condensed,  and  the 
doctrines  exhibited  in  that  practical  shape,  that  will  tend  to  keep 
up  through  every  paragraph  a  deep  and  lively  interest. 

To  supply  such  a  volume,  though  perhaps  a  bold  attempt, 
has  been  my  aim  ;  but  whether  I  have  attained,  or  even  approach- 
ed the  point,  others  must  judge. 

It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  so  many  precious  volumes,  read 
by  the  people  of  God,  in  days  past,  and  used  by  the  Spirit  in  fit- 
ting them  for  heaven,  have  from  something  obsolete  in  their  lan- 
guage, gone  too  much  out  of  use — yet  as  the  fact  exists,  a  reme- 
dy should  be  applied.  The  multitude  of  books  in  the  market  is  no 
argument  against  the  attempt  to  furnish  the  ungodly  with  the 
means  of  alarm,  or  the  people  of  God  with  any  help  that  can  be 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

afforded  them  in  finishing  their  sanctification.  In  every  other 
department  of  learning,  new  efforts  are  perpetually  made,  and 
every  fascination  of  style  and  argument  employed  to  render  in- 
teresting the  art  or  science  that  it  is  feared  may  languish,  and 
why  not  carry  the  same  wisdom  into  the  Church  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  ***** 


*  INTRODUCTION 

TO  THREE  VOLUMES  OF  SERMONS  PUBLISHED  IN  1836. 

THE  author  cannot  fail  to  recollect  with  gratitude,-  the  unex- 
pectedly rapid  sale  of  a  former  volume,  and  the  many  favorable 
acknowledgments  he  has  received  from  its  readers.  Though 
repeatedly  urged  to  issue  a  new  edition  of  that  volume,  or  other 
fruits  of  his  pen,  he  has  hitherto  declined,  except  occasionally  to 
publish  sermons  and  essays  in  some  of  the  current  periodicals. 
But  since  his  health  has  failed,  and  he  can  no  longer  stand  in  the 
holy  place,  rather  than  bear  the  agony  of  living  to  no  purpose,  he 
has  summoned  resolution,  with  the  encouragement  of  friends,  to 
arrange  and  issue  these  three  volumes, — including  some  of  his 
former  publications. 

The  author  has  still  the  same  conviction  as  formerly  expressed, 
that  writings  are  often  spoiled  by  too  much  smoothing  and  polish- 
ing. Hence  the  present  volumes  are  permitted  to  go  forth  with 
those  occasional  roughnesses,  which,  it  is  hoped,  may  not  give  of- 
fence, but  simply  stir  up  thoughts,  and  arouse  proper  feeling.  He 
is  also  impressed  with  the  fact,  that  in  the  manner  of  reading, 
and  especially  of  reading  sermons,  there  is  generally  exhibited  a 
most  shameful  and  criminal  deficiency.  If  he  might  be  allowed  a 
suggestion  on  this  point,  he  would  say  with  deference,  let  the  pa- 
rent, or  some  one  selected  by  him,  read  aloud  for  the  benefit  of 
the  family,  after  preparing  himself  to  read  with  due  emphasis  and 
feeling.  And  as  a  general  rule,  read  aloud,  even  when  alone  — 
remembering  that  impressions  made  at  once  on  the  ear  and  eye, 
reach  the  heart  with  double  force.  Let  this  course  be  prayerfully 
adopted,  and  well  written  sermons,  and  essays,  arid  the  precious 
Bible  itself,  would  not  so  often  be  regarded  as  dull  compositions  ; 
but  their  perusal  would  be  accompanied  with  power  from  on  high. 
That  some  portion  of  that  blessed  influence  may  attend  these 
volumes,  and  that  they  may  not  be  consigned,  with  their  author, 
to  speedy  dust  and  worms,  is  his  last  written  prayer. 


BIOGRAPHY. 


DANIEL  A.  CLARK  was  born  in  Rahway,  New  Jersey,  on  March  1st,  1779. 
His  father  was  David  Clark,  a  relative  of  Abraham  Clark,  whose  name 
appears  among  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  a 
warm  Whig,  and  his  property  was  sacrificed,  and  his  life  brought  into 
jeopardy  often,  in  consequence  of  his  patriotic  exertions.  In  reference  to 
these  trying  scenes,  the  subject  of  this  memoir  was  accustomed  to  say,  that 
he  u  was  cradled  in  a  whirlwind."  His  mother,  Elizabeth  Moore,  was  "  a 
mother  in  Israel."  She  seems  to  have  been  a  woman  of  great  strength  and 
decision  of  character.  She  was  remarkable  for  plain  dealing  and  Christian 
faithfulness  toward  her  children,  and  those  under  her  care ;  it  was  a  some- 
what austere  and  uncompromising  faithfulness,  partaking  of  an  age  of  more 
rigid  authority  than  our  own.  She  was  alone  in  her  efforts  for  the  religious 
training  and  the  eternal  welfare  of  her  children,  for  the  father  did  not  exert 
any  religious  influence.  Perhaps  this  double  share  of  responsibility  weighed 
so  heavy,  as  to  induce  a  double  vigilance  and  energy  in  her  own  spirit,  for 
the  saving  of  her  house. 

The  following  is  his  own  language,  descriptive  of  her  influence  over 
himself. 

"  A  child  of  prayer,  he  knew  a  mother's  worth, 
Knew  well  the  silken  cords  she  round  him  flung, 
To  hold  him  back  from  crime,  and  woe,  and  death." 

He  pays,  in  another  connection,  a  more  extended  tribute  to  her  influence 
and  her  worth : 

"  She  wonderfully  succeeded  in  attaching  herself  to  the  people  of  the 
saints  of  the  most  high  God.  In  her  eyes,  the  pious  were  ever  honorable  ; 
and  through  her  persevering  influence,  she  had  many  a  kind  word  dropped 
in  the  ears  of  her  family,  by  one  and  another  that  had  received  the  hospi- 
tality of  her  house  and  table.  In  the  earliest  times,  she  surrounded  herself 
with  a  kind  of  hallucination  that  threw  around  her  a  savor  of  heaven.  She 
had  the  entire  confidence  of  all  that  feared  God  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
often  consulted  with  them  when  she  knew  of  any  iniquity  that  was  about 
to  be  practised;  especially,  if  by  her  influence  the  children  of  her  neighbors 
and  of  the  covenant  could  be  kept  from  vice." 

In  the  "Maternal  Contrast,"  a  small  volume  recently  prepared  from  his 
2 


X  BIOGRAPHY 

papers,  is  found  a  full  history  of  her  character,  and  an  extended  tribute  to 
her  memory.  In  that  little  volume,  he  says,  speaking  directly  of  his  mother, 

"  It  seemed  to  me,  sometimes,  that  heaven  told  her  all  my  history — and 
she  never  forgot  my  sins.  She  would  remember  some  act  of  waywardness 
many  moons,  if  I  kept  from  her  presence,  and  she  had  no  opportunity  to 
judge  me.  If  the  testimony  was  not  full,  she  knew  how  to  secure  a  con- 
fession; and  if  not,  she  prayed  for  me,  and  turned  me  over  to  the  judgment 
of  the  great  day." 

We  have  still  another  tribute  to  his  mother's  faithfulness,  in  the  account 
of  his  conversion,  which  is  given  in  his  own  words. 

ANDOVER,  Mass.,  Thursday,  Feb.  14,  1811. 

"  Born  in  1779,  I  lived  a  wicked  and  a  thoughtless  life,  until  I  was  ten  or 
twelve  years  old.  I  presume  that  I  had,  in  that  time,  many  fears  of  death, 
and  of  hell,  but  I  have  no  definite  recollection  of  them.  My  dear  mother 
had  instructed  me  in  the  Bible,  and  catechism,  but  had  made  but  little  pro- 
gress in  bringing  me  to  repentance.  I  hated  her  instructions,  and  longed  to 
be  from  under  her  control.  As  often  as  possible,  I  absented  myself  from 
her  kind  instructions.  I  hated  to  hear  so  much  about  sin  and  hell.  I  loved 
play  better  than  truth.  My  mother,  however,  would  pursue  me,  and  re- 
mind me  of  my  danger,  and  press  me  to  my  Bible ;  but  it  was  like  urging 
the  ox  to  the  place  of  slaughter.  She  would  have  found  her  work  much 
easier,  had  my  dear  father  yielded  her  that  assistance  which  he  should  have 
done.  I  should  then  have  been  easily  governed.  But  my  father  would 
sometimes  allow  me  to*  disobey  my  mother.  This  did  me  great  injury.  I 
felt  my  mother's  word  to  be  law ;  and  a  law  it  was  which  I  seldom  dared 
to  break.  If  she  gave  me  any  commands  which  were  grievous,  I  used  to 
try  to  have  her  repeal  the  law  she  had  made.  If  she  would  not,  I  tried  to 
have  my  father  say  I  need  not  mind  her.  If  he  would  not  do  this,  my  con- 
science constrained  me  to  obey.  I  often  kept  out  of  her  sight,  for  fear  she 
would  forbid  me  some  gratification  on  which  my  heart  was  set.  I  often 
wished  that  God  had  given  me  such  a  mother  as  the  other  boys  had,  one 
who  would  indulge  me  more.  Thus  I  hated  her  for  her  kindness. 

"  When  about  twelve  years  of  age,  I  went  with  some  of  the  children  of  the 

village,  and  one  wicked  boy  from  New- York,  by  the  name  of  S ,  to  the 

creek,  for  the  purpose  of  crabbing.  On  the  way  our  city-comrade  advised  us 
to  kill  a  fowl  which  we  saw  by  a  barn,  and  use  it  for  bait.  By  his  persuasion 
and  assistance  we  did.  On  our  return,  we  saw,  near  the  same  place,  a  flock 
of  turkeys;  these  we  stoned  until  we  killed  several  of  them,  and  went  to 
shaking  off  apples  for  our  amusement.  The  man  who  owned  the  orchard 
saw  us,  and  came  to  forbid  us.  He  did  not  discover  that  we  had  killed 
the  turkeys,  for  which  reason  we  escaped. 

"  On  returning  home,  I  was  much  alarmed  to  think  of  what  we  had  done. 
I  never  had  before  engaged  in  such  a  piece  of  villany,  nor  should  I  then 
have  done  it  had  I  not  been  led  on.  For  some  time  I  feared  the  man  would 
find  us  out,  and  would  have  us  punished.  I  was  during  some  months  in 

constant  agitation. 

t 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  Xi 

"  Thus  I  began  a  bold  career  of  wickedness.  Nor  did  I  begin  only,  for  I 
made  daily  progress.  My  mother  now  found  it  difficult  to  manage  me.  I 
began  to  break  over  every  restraint ;  but  still  was  afraid  to  disobey  her. 
She  remembered  it,  if  I  did,  and  would  reprove  me,  or  correct  me,  the  lat- 
ter of  which  I  preferred.  I  dreaded  her  reproofs.  Now  it  was  that  my 
father  should  have  used  his  authority,  but  he  let  me  run  on,  in  my  despe- 
rate course. 

"  When  about  fifteen  years  old,  I  began  to  wish  to  attend  balls ;  but  here, 
my  mother  could  give  me  no  indulgence.  There  was  no  way  that  I  could 
get  to  one,  without  keeping  it  a  secret,  or  disobeying  her.  Her  restraints 
now  rendered  me  desperate,  and  I  resolved  to  disobey.  One  night,  when 
there  was  a  ball  in  the  neighborhood,  I  went  to  bed,  where  I  lay  till  my 
mother  was  asleep ;  I  then  rose ;  carried  my  clothes  into  the  field ;  there  I 
dressed  me ;  I  then  took  my  father's  horse  and  went  to  the  ball.  But  my 
conscience  so  disturbed  me,  that  I  had  no  comfort.  After  staying  till  about 
11  o'clock,  in  constant  agony,  I  returned,  put  all  things  right  again,  and 
went  to  bed.  Now  it  was  that  I  felt  a  part  of  hell  in  my  bosom.  I  could 
not  sleep.  My  whole  system  was  agitated,  so  that  at  length  the  bedstead 
shook.  I  began  to  think  that  God  would  bear  with  me  no  longer,  but  would 
cut  me  off  for  my  sins.  I  at  length  thought  that  I  was  struck  with  death  ; 
but  resolved  to  die  alone.  I  was  afraid  to  tell  any  one  the  reason  of  my 
distress,  and  knew  no  one  who  could  relieve  me.  I  thought  my  hell  had 
begun.  I  expected  before  morning  to  be  among  devils. 

"  I  forget  whether  I  finally  fell  asleep  or  not,  but  I  believe  that  toward 
morning  I  did ;  probably  through  excessive  fatigue.  During  my  distress  I 
tried  to  pray,  but  found  it  hard  work. 

"  In  a  few  days  I  forgot  all  this  distress,  and  went  on  witli  as  high  a  hand 
as  ever.  I  was  desirous,  above  all  things,  to  attend  balls.  Once  I  remem- 
ber going  to  a  great  distance  to  attend  one,  but  came  home  much  more  un- 
happy than  I  went ;  this,  however,  was  always  the  case. 

"  About  this  time  there  was  a  ball  appointed  in  the  neighborhood,  of  which 
I  became  a  party.  The  landlady,  being  professedly  pious,  informed  my 
mother  that  I  was  there,  and  engaged  in  the  dance.  Like  an  Israelite  in- 
deed, she  sent  for  me  home.  I  refused  to  go.  She  then  came  herself,  and 
ordered  me  home.  Now  I  knew  not  what  to  do.  I  had  waited  upon  a 
young  lady  to  the  ball,  and  could  not  leave  her  there,  and  dared  not  stay 
myself.  I  very  soon  invited  the  young  lady  to  go  home,  and  thus  made  my 
retreat. 

"  I  have  often  doubted  if  my  mother  acted  wisely  in  this  matter.  She 
reduced  me  to  desperation.  I  felt,  the  next  day,  ashamed  of  my  very  exist- 
ence. I  wished  my  mother  dead.  I  wished  for  anything  which  might  free 
:ne  from  restraint.  In  my  heart  I  cursed  that  dear  mother,  who  loved  me 
so  tenderly  that  she  would  have  done  anything  possible  for  my  temporal  or 
eternal  good. 

"  Now  if  my  father  had  done  his  duty,  I  might  have  been  stopped  in 
my  course.  Alas  !  he  stood  silent  by.  Now  it  was  that  my  mother  wrest- 


Xii  BIOGRAPHY 

tied  for  my  soul.  I  used  to  see  her  come  from  her  closet  in  tears,  and  often 
used  to  overhear  her  prayers. 

"  My  father  began  to  think  of  putting  me  to  business.  The  man  with 
whom  he  wished  me  to  live  was  very  wicked.  He  was,  however,  called  a 
smart  man,  which  induced  my  father  to  propose  my  living  with  him.  I 
began  to  long  for  the  time  when  I  should  leave  home,  intending  then  to  take 
my  full  of  sinful  pleasure.  But  God  had  otherwise  determined.  My  dear 
mother  continued  to  pray,  and  God  resolved  to  hear.  Before  the  time  had 
come  when  I  was  to  leave  home,  there  was,  in  Elizabethtown,  some  atten- 
tion to  religion.  The  preaching  of  Rev.  David  Austen  was  blessed  to  the 
hopeful  conversion  of  some,  although  he  was  at  that  time  becoming  wild 
in  many  of  his  notions.  It  was,  on  the  whole,  a  very  solemn  time.  Many 
seemed  anxious  about  their  souls.  On  the  first  day  of  May,  the  sacrament 
was  to  be  administered  at  Elizabethtown,  and  several  were  to  be  added  to 
the  Church.  I  had  my  doubts  in  the  morning  whether  I  would  go  to  Eliza- 
bethtown, or  Rah  way,  but  some  of  my  companions  inviting  me,  1  went  with 
them  to  Elizabethtown.  The  day  was  warm.  Our  walk,  of  three  miles, 
having  fatigued  me,  I  resolved  to  fix  myself  in  a  corner  of  the  pew,  and  dur- 
ing the  sermon  to  take  a  nap.  I  took  my  seat,  but  as  soon  as  Mr.  Austen 
had  taken  his  text,  my  feelings  seemed  very  much  awakened.  I  resolved  to 
listen  to  the  discourse.  The  text  was,  Jer.  1.  4,  5.  "  In  those  days  and  in 
that  time  saith  the  Lord,  the  children  of  Israel  shall  come,  they  and  the 
children  of  Judah  together,  going  and  weeping;  they  shall  go  and  seek  the 
Lord  their  God.  They  shall  ask  the  way  to  Zion  with  their  faces  thither- 
ward, saying,  Come,  and  let  us  join  ourselves  to  the  Lord  in  a  perpetual  co- 
venant, that  shall  not  be  forgotten."  The  sermon  seemed  directed  to  me.  I 
melted  under  the  word.  It  was  the  first  sermon  to  which  I  ever  gave  good 
attention,  and  I  humbly  hope  the  Lord  set  it  home  by  his  Spirit.  Thirteen 
were  that  day  added  to  the  Church.  I  was  much  impressed  while  I  saw 
them  come  and  join  themselves  to  the  Lord.  I  longed  to  be  with  them.  I 
thought  I  loved  them  as  I  never  loved  any  human  being  before.  I  sat  in  my 
corner  seat,  till  the  sacrament  was  over,  pouring  out  one  constant  flood  of 
tears.  I  then  sought  to  hide  from  my  merry  companions,  with  whom  I  felt 
that  I  could  never  again  have  communion,  unless  they  were  regenerated.  I 
retired  in  the  intermission  of  Divine  service,  to  a  lonely  grove,  where,  for  the 
first  time,  I  poured  out  my  heart  to  God  in  prayer.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
God  was  on  my  right  hand  and  on  my  left.  I  never  had  felt  that  he  was 
everywhere,  before.  My  first  anxious  prayer  was,  that  I  might  hold  out 
to  the  end.  When  I  came  home  from  meeting,  I  found  my  father's  family 
all  absent — they  having  gone  to  a  conference.  I  retired  to  my  chamber, 
and  falling  on  my  knees,  attempted  again  to  pray.  In  the  evening  I  went  to 
the  conference,  anxious  to  hear  Divine  truth.  Thus  was  spent  that  first 
pleasant  day  of  my  life. 

"  Whether  I  was  that  day  regenerated,  I  dare  not  say  :  I  think  this  was 
the  case.  I  had  very  little  previous  distress.  During  the  preceding  week  I 
had  been  alarmed,  by  a  solemn  account  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine,  of  a  young  lady,  who,  having  her  heart  set  on  attending  a  ball, 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  Xlll 

had  one  appointed  at  her  request,  but  was  herself  buried  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed for  the  ball.  This  account  touched  my  case,  and  drove  me  to  a  form 
of  prayer.  But  I  had  no  convictions,  nor  was  my  heart  at  all  in  my  prayers. 
I  prayed  because  I  was  afraid  I  should  be  damned.  I  one  day  felt  while  I  re- 
tired to  pray,  that  if  I  had  power  enough  to  pull  God  from  his  throne,  I 
would  not  pray.  I  had,  however,  resolved  to  keep  up  a  form  of  prayer  as  long 
as  I  lived.  In  this  resolve  I  should  certainly  have  failed,  had  not  God,  as  I 
humbly  hope,  given  me  a  new  heart. 

"  My  knowledge  of  gospel  truth,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of  my 
mother,  was  at  this  time  very  small.  I  certainly  did  not  know  enough  to 
be  a  comfortable  believer.  During  a  whole  year  I  obtained  no  satisfactory 
hope  that  my  heart  was  renewed.  I  took  much  pleasure  in  the  company 
and  conversation  of  God's  people.  They  seemed  to  me  the  excellent  of  the 
earth.  I  sometimes  went  six  or  seven  miles  to  meet  with  them  in  confer- 
ence. I  put  too  much  dependence  on  meetings.  I  felt  as  if  they  were  ne- 
cessary to  keep  alive  my  religion.  I  almost  worshiped  the  man  who  was 
the  instrument  of  arousing  me.  Natural  affections  were  very  much  sub- 
stituted for  religion.  I  have  often  thought,  that  if  I  had  any  religion  during 
this  first  year,  it  was  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean. 

"  Very  soon  after  being  awakened,  I  felt  the  need  of  a  companion ;  and 
God  seemed  to  give  me  one.  A  young  man  in  my  neighborhood,  and  one 
whom  I  had  long  enjoyed  as  a  companion  in  vice,  was  awakened  at  a  con- 
ference, attended  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  C .  Immediately  after  the  meeting, 

he  sent  me  a  line,  in  which  he  opened  his  mind  to  me,  and  gave  me  great 
joy.  I  flew  to  his  embrace,  and,  I  suppose,  felt  proud  that  God  had  an- 
swered my  prayer.  He  seemed  so  deeply  impressed,  and  came  out  so 
boldly  from  the  world,  that  he  made  me  doubt  whether  I  had  met  with  a 
saving  change.  For  about  two  weeks,  we  spent  almost  all  our  time  to- 
gether, in  prayer  and  conversation.  He  then  began  to  be  less  fond  of  my 
company,  and  soon  entirely  forsook  me.  Thus  the  gourd  that  had  grown 
up  in  a  night,  withered  in  a  day.  I  suppose  God  designed,  by  this  afflicting 
stroke,  to  wean  me  from  man,  and  bring  me  to  himself.  I  felt  more  than 
ever  the  importance  of  having  a  religion  which  would  live  without  any 
support  but  from  heaven.  To  convince  me  still  more  thoroughly  of  this 
important  truth,  God  so  ordered  it  in  his  providence,  that  I  should  go  into 
the  employ  of  that  man  whom  I  have  already  brought  into  view.  In  this 
thing  I  think  my  father  was  wrong.  He  ought  now  to  have  provided  for 
my  growth  in  grace.  This  new  situation,  in  which  my  rebellious  heart 
had  formerly  anticipated  much  delight,  was  now  very  unpleasant.  I  lived 
in  the  midst  of  oaths  and  curses.  They  laughed  at  my  seriousness,  and 
tried  many  ways  to  make  me  dishonor  religion.  And,  O,  my  soul,  too  often 
they  succeeded  !  I  had  now  very  little  opportunity  to  read,  or  attend  reli- 
gious conference.  All  this  tended  to  drive  me  into  retirement,  where  I 
might  pray.  Many  times  in  the  day  I  used  to  leave  the  wicked  throng 
which  surrounded  me,  that  I  might  spend  a  few  moments  alone.  Many  of 
my  evenings  were  spent  in  tears.  My  life  was  gloomy  as  death.  I  spent 
much  of  my  leisure  time  in  reading  the  Bible.  Having  a  Bible  of  small 


XIV  BIOGRAPHY 

print,  and  setting  up  to  read  it  until  late  at  night,  I  found  at  length  that  I 
had  almost  ruined  my  eyes.  They  became  so  weak,  that  for  several  years 
afterward  I  could  not  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  with  any  comfort.  This 
also  tended  to  make  me  feel  that  I  must  have  a  religion  which  came  from 
God  only,  and  which  he  would  nourish  by  his  Spirit. 

"  During  the  first  year  of  my  seriousness,  I  had  a  very  bad  opinion  of  my 
heart,  till  at  length  I  concluded  that  I  had  no  religion.  I  was  distressed, 
for  fear  that  I  had  never  been  acquainted  with  Christ.  I  certainly  was 
very  ignorant  of  his  character.  Sometime  in  the  latter  part  of  the  winter,  I 
happened  to  discover  in  the  house  where  I  lived,  an  old,  dirty  pamphlet ; 
which,  on  examining,  I  found  to  contain  two  sermons  of  Doctor  Hopkins, 
one  on  the  law,  and  the  other  on  the  gospel.  The  text  of  the  latter  sermon 
was,  "  Which  were  bora  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  G-od."  These  sermons  suited  my  case.  They  con- 
vinced me  that  I  was  very  ignorant  of  Christ,  and  threw  me  into  great 
distress,  which  continued  many  months.  During  this  time,  I  felt  as  if  I 
could  not  pray.  There  seemed  to  be  a  cloud  of  brass  between  me  and  God. 
Sometime  in  April,  my  distress,  one  Sabbath  morning,  arose  so  high,  that  I 
thought  I  could  not  live.  I  took  my  hymn-book  and  walked  the  fields. 
Every  thing  I  saw  seemed  as  gloomy  as  death.  I  several  times  fell  on  my 
face,  and  despaired  of  mercy.  I  triejl  to  pray,  and  could  not.  The  whole 
day  was  dark  and  dismal.  In  the  evening  I  attended  a  conference,  and  all 
was  dark  yet.  After  the  conference,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chapman,  (who  was 
then  my  minister,  and  who  felt  very  anxious  for  me,  and  had  already,  at 
my  request,  propounded  me  to  the  church,)  inquired  of  my  feelings.  I 
told  him,  "  Gloomy  as  death."1  He  immediately  pointed  me  to  Christ.  I 
told  him  that  I  was  afraid  I  had  never  Found  the  Savior.  He  told  me, 
then,  that  my  religion  was  vain.  His  conversation  was  the  means,  I  hope, 
of  bringing  me  to  be  better  acquainted  with  Christ,  and  of  dispersing  my 
darkness.  1  had  a  charming  evening  and  night,  almost  all  of  which  I  spent 
in  the  same  fields  where  I  had  despaired  in  the  morning.  My  cloud  of 
brass  now  seemed  to  be  penetrable.  I  thought  I  had  near  access  to  God. 
I  continued  more  comfortable,  until,  on  the  first  day  of  May,  (just  one  year 
from  the  time  of  my  first  feeling  the  change,)  I  joined  the  church,  and  took 
my  seat  among  the  followers  of  the  Lamb." 

He  soon  after  formed  the  purpose  of  preparing  for  the  ministry ;  and  in 
1S02,  commenced  his  academical  studies,  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Finley 
of  Baskenridge.  In  March,  1805,  he  was  summoned  home  to  see  his 
mother  die.  She  had  no  anxiety  but  for  the  souls  of  her  children.  He 
heard  her  speak  of  God's  goodness,  of  her  joy  in  the  light  of  his  countenance, 
and  her  readiness  to  depart :  he  saw  her  depart  in  peace,  and  in  the  clear 
hope  of  a  glorious  immortality.  The  loss  of  such  a  mother  affected  him 
deeply. 

He  entered  Princeton  College  in  1805,  and  graduated  in  1808,  with  so 
high  a  reputation  for  scholarship,  that  the  proffer  of  a  tutorship  was  made 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XV 

lo  him,  which,  however,  he  declined,  that  he  might  enter  at  once  upon 
his  professional  studies. 

The  following  letter  to  his  uncle  and  aunt,  written  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  college  life,  is  interesting  for  the  sentiments  it  contains,  and  the  pious 
spirit  which  it  breathes. 

"  PRINCETON,  N.  J.,  Jan.  10,  1808. 
"  My  Dear  Uncle  and  Aunt : 

"  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  are  so  much  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
all  your  friends,  as  to  wish  to  hear  from  them.  I  regret  that  so  wide  a 
space  parts  us,  as  to  forbid  our  intercourse.  Since  the  dissolution  of  my  fa- 
ther's family,  I  feel  more  interested  than  before  in  the  smiles  of  my  other 
friends.  How  good  is  God  in  this !  that  when  one  of  the  streams  that  con- 
vey satisfaction  and  delight  to  our  minds  dries  up,  he  allows  the  same 
sweets  to  reach  us  by  other  channels.  His  mercy  forbids,  or  the  days  of 
mourning  would  be  protracted  to  the  grave.  This  is  a  world  full  of  chang- 
es, and  as  full  of  disappointments.  We  often  forget  on  what  we  lean  until 
it  gives  way,  and  exposes  us  to  a  fall.  Friends  often  lean  on  friends,  instead 
of  an  Almighty  arm,  and  provoke  God  to  cut  them  off  by  death,  that  they 
may  return  and  put  their  trust  in  him.  Since  my  very  agreeable  visit  to 
your  country,  I  have  felt  greatly  interested  in  the  welfare  of  your  family.  I 
often  picture  you,  in  my  imagination,  standing  on  the  border  of  Canaan, 
looking  forward  with  joy  to  the  fields  of  light,  and  hailing  the  inviting  dawn 
of  the  resurrection  morning :  and,  at  the  same  time  looking  backward  with 
no  less  delight,  to  see  your  children  walking  in  that  blessed  path,  that  must 
terminate  at  the  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  0,  how  great  is  the  portion 
of  the  Christian  !  He  possesses  either  the  reality,  or  the  certain  promise  of 
every  good.  He  walks  through  every  danger  without  hurt,  and  shall  at 
last  stand  on  the  ashes  of  the  universe  and  triumphantly  say,  I  have  lost 
nothing.  My  dearest  friends,  let  a  young  pilgrim  admonish  you  to  keep 
your  eyes  fixed  upon  your  ascended  Redeemer.  Your  only  hope,  you  know, 
is  in  him ;  your  only  safety  in  him.  If  he  smile  on  you,  ten  thousand  hells 
could  not  hurt  you — but  if  he  frown,  as  many  Gabriels  of  light  could  not 
administer  a  drop  of  joy.  To  serve  Christ  is  the  whole  business  of  life,  and 
and  if  we  refuse  to  serve  him,  we  ought  to  be  generous  enough  to  leave  the 
world  he  made  for  that  purpose.  He  intended  to  be  served  here  when  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  ;  and  the  sons  of  God  looking  forward  to  the 
glory  of  his  kingdom,  shouted  for  joy.  1  hear  with  joy  that  Christ  is  making 
daily  encroachments  upon  the  kingdom  of  the  prince  of  darkness.  Newark 
and  Elizabethtown  witness,  at  present,  some  of  the  most  interesting  scenes 
that  ever  passed  in  review  before  the  eyes  of  men.  The  stoutest  hearts 
yield  to  invitations  of  the  gospel.  The  child  of  eight  years  and  the  sire  of 
ninety,  unite  their  harmonious  songs  to  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  and  has 
redeemed  them  unto  himself  by  his  blood.  From  this  town  I  have  no  good 
news  to  tell  you,  unless  it  be  that  upwards  of  twenty-five,  are  here  prepar- 
ing to  blow  the  gospel  trump.  But  what  God  will  do  with  this  people  I 
know  not,  for  they  are  nearly  all  asleep  upon  the  brink  of  death.  I  know 


XVl"  BIOGRAPHY 

not  of  a  worse  evil  that  can  happen  to  any  people,  than  that  of  being  for- 
saken by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

"  Uncle  will  see  in  the  printed  sheet  which  accompanies  this  letter,  the 
happy  state  of  the  College,  which  he  will  please  make  as  public  as  possible. 

"  Yours,  very  affectionately,  DANIEL  A.  CLARK." 

Some  of  his  contributions  to  periodicals,  during  his  College  course,  evince 
much  thought,  and  maturity  of  intellect. 

Mr.  Clark  commenced  his  theological  studies  under  the  direction  of  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York.  In  May,  1809,  he  left  Newark,  in  company  with 
Dr.  Griffin,  for  Andover :  the  latter  to  be  a  teacher  in  that  then  infant  Sem- 
inary, the  former  a  student.  His  residence  at  Andover  was  from  one  to 
two  years,  he  having  entered  the  second  (middle)  class.  This  was  the 
third  class  formed  in  that  Seminary,  which  left  in  1811. 

In  the  course  of  Mr.  Clark's  residence  at  Andover,  the  place  was  favored 
with  a  revival  of  religion,  in  which  he  was  very  deeply  interested,  and  for 
the  promotion  of  which  he  labored  with  great  zeal  and  success.  Some 
account  of  this  work,  and  of  his  own  exercises  in  view  of  it,  is  found  among 
his  papers.  The  following  extracts  from  his  diary  may  not  be  uninteresting, 
as  indicating  his  spiritual  state  while  in  a  course  of  theological  study. 

"  ANDOVER,  Mass.,  Sabbath,  October  15th,  1809. 

"  Again  somewhat  unwell.  The  day  is  dull,  and  the  preaching  poor.  The 
week  past,  however,  has  been  pleasant,  because  the  Lord  was  among  us.  O, 
how  good  is  it  to  see  sinnners  inquire  the  way  to  Zion,  with  their  faces 
thitherward !  It  seems  to  make  us  forget  that  we  are  in  a  wretched  world, 
and  we  begin  to  feel  ourselves  blest.  And  truly  they  are  blest,  whom  the 
Lord  permits  to  rejoice  in  the  displays  of  his  Sovereign  grace.  They  seem 
to  sit  around  where  Jesus  is,  and  to  feel  a  part  of  heaven. 

"  Evening. — Spent  with  the  Misses  E ,  and  two  of  my  brethren,  con- 
versing about  Christ,  the  Savior  of  sinners.  I  hope  Christ  was  there. 
Blessed  be  his  name,  for  meliorating  the  woes  of  this  sublunary  scene,  by 
setting  up  a  Church  in  it,  and  giving  his  people  to  see  the  displays  of  his 
grace  in  the  salvation  of  sinners.  What  shall  we  render  to  the  Lord  for  all 
his  benefits  ?  How  shall  his  poor  people  make  him  any  return  : 

For  all  they  are  and  all  they  have  is  God's. 

He  saw  them  weltering  in  their  blood ;  cast  out 

And  lying  in  the  open  field,  forlorn, 

Without  an  eye  to  pity,  or  an  arm 

To  help ;  nor  was  there  found  in  heaven,  or  earth, 

Or  in  the  world  of  woe,  a  heart  to  feel, 

Save  His  who  felt  (moved  by  the  sinner's  pains, 

Or  rather  by  his  own  eternal  love,) 

And  flew  from  heaven  to  save,  and  snatch  them  thence, 

And  healed  their  wounds  and  made  their  hearts  rejoice. 

Yes,  all  they  have  is  His,  and  His  are  they. 

They  love  to  serve  their  King,  and  shout  his  praise, 

Yea,  gladly  would  they  burn  with  seraph's  flame 

Until  the  sacred  fire  had  made  them  pure. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XVli 

"  WEDNESDAY,  November  29,  1809. 

"  Our  brother  dies* — and  why  is  God  dealing  with  us  so  early  in  wrath  ? 
What  is  God  saying  to  us  in  all  this  ?  He  is  in  heaven,  and  we  on  the 
earth,  and  our  words  must  be  few.  I  am  to  prepare  an  address  on  the  occa- 
sion. But  I  know  not  what  to  say.  May  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  direct  me." 

"  ANDOVER,  Sabbath  Morning,  July  1st,  1810. 

"  I  perceive  that  I  have  neglected  my  diary  for  two  months.  A  part  of 
that  time  I  have  spent  very  agreeably  in  Beverly,  where  the  Lord  is  shed- 
ding down  his  showers  of  grace.  It  was  sweet  to  be  there.  How  pleasant 
to  stand  stili  and  see  the  salvation  of  God  !  To  see  the  sinner  melt  under 
the  word,  and  hear  him  inquire,  what  he  shall  do  to  be  saved  ? — this  is  de- 
lightful. I  remember  to  have  often  prayed,  that  God  would  cast  my  lot 
where  he  was  pouring  out  his  Holy  Spirit.  I  have  now  spent  six  weeks  in 
such  a  place,  and  hope  I  have  received  some  advantage.  I  think  that  I 
long  to  be  always  in  such  a  place — to  be  always  where  God  reveals  his  gra- 
cious name.  I  long  now  to  live  near  to  him,  to  have  every  day  some  view 
of  his  face,  to  feel  every  morning  and  evening  the  same  fervent  glow  of  af- 
fection. Must  rny  soul  ever  again  leave  my  God  ?  Upon  what  object  can 
it  fix,  if  it  should  act  so  unwise  a  part  ?  Will  it  try  again  to  be  pleased 
with  earthly  objects,  and  fix  its  hopes  on  sublunary  good  ?  Oh,  no!  these 
have  all  been  tried.  I  have  found  by  long  and  painful  experience,  that 
earth  has  no  one  charm  for  my  soul.  It  may  play  for  a  moment  around 
some  painted  earthly  object,  but  it  soon  remembers  its  home,  and  begins  to 
mourn.  Hills  and  groves  sometimes  delight  it  a  moment,  but  soon  it  feels  a 
longing  desire  after  an  acquaintance  with  the  God  who  founded  and  painted 
tliem.  Imagination  soon  leaves  the  scenery,  and  bears  me  to  the  fields  of 
light,  where  the  redeemed  gaze  for  ever  upon  that  more  lovely  object,  the 
Lamb  of  God.  Oh,  my  God  !  is  not  this  eager  desire  after  a  better  object, 
some  faint  proof  that  my  soul  has  been  renewed  by  thy  Divine  grace  ?  Do 
I  not  love  thee  ?" 

It.  appears  from  the  preceding,  that  Mr.  Clark,  at  this  period,  was  not 
neglectful  of  his  own  spiritual  interests,  or  of  those  of  others,  but  watched, 
and  labored,  and  prayed,  that  souls  might  be  saved,  and  Zion  prosper,  and 
Christ  be  honored. 

There  is  other  testimony,  to  the  same  effect.  One  who  was  in  the  same 
original  company  from  Newark,  writes,  under  a  recent  date,  that 

"  His  character  for  devoted  piety  was  eminent  in  the  Seminary.  He  was 
active  and  useful  in  a  season  of  religious  interest,  which  commenced  in  the 
south  part  of  the  town,  during  the  fall  vacation  of  1809  in  the  Seminary." 

Another  respected  minister,  who  came  into  the  Seminary  about  the  time 
Mr.  Clark  left  it,  writes, 

"  My  wife,  who  was  somewhat  acquainted  with  him  while  at  Andover, 
and  who  became  interested  in  religion  during  the  first  revival  at  A., 

*  Mr.  Badger,  a  fellow  student  with  him  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 

3 


XV111  BIOGRAPHY 

in  which  your  father,  with  some  others  of  his  classmates,  bore  a  con- 
spicuous part,  remembers  and  speaks  of  him  with  great  affection  ;  and  thinks 
he  was  one  of  the  most  useful  instruments  which  God  was  pleased  to 
employ  in  that  blessed  work — a  work  which  gave  a  new  tone  and  character 
to  the  piety  of  the  church  in  that  place,  and  the  influence  of  which  has 
been  felt  from  that  day  to  this,  among  that  people." 

In  October,  1810,  before  finally  leaving  Andover,  he  was  examined,  and 
licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Jersey. 

In  1811,  he  visited  Portland,  where  a  work  of  grace  was  in  progress,  and 
engaged  in  earnest  labors  for  its  promotion.  He  occupied,  for  several  weeks, 
the  pulpit  of  Dr.  Beman,  then  one  of  the  ministers  of  Portland,  and  who  was 
absent,  for  a  season,  in  consequence  of  ill  health. 

On  January  1, 1812,  he  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  Congregational  Union  Church  of  Braintree  and  Wey- 
mouth.  In  June,  of  the  same  year,  he  was  married,  at  Portland,  Maine,  to 
Miss  Eliza  Barker,  daughter  of  Dr.  Jeremiah  Barker,  of  Gorham. 

The  field  in  which  Mr.  Clark  commenced  his  ministry,  was  a  somewhat 
difficult  and  rugged  one ;  and  he  seems  to  have  entered  and  continued  in 
it  with  many  trials.  He  complains,  in  a  letter,  that  there  are  but  few  to 
pray  for  a  revival ;  that  many  have  taken  offence  at  his  preaching — some 
because  he  endeavored  to  raise  the  standard  of  piety,  by  which  they  were 
cut  off  from  their  hope  that  they  were  Christians;  others,  because  his 
preaching  was  directed  against  coldness,  covetousness,  balls  and  cards ; 
others,  probably,  from  his  heavy  and  demolishing  assaults  of  the  Unitarian 
heresy,  which  he  never  was  in  the  habit  of  sparing. 

The  following  letter,  to  the  parents  of  Mrs.  Clark,  is  instructive,  and  it 
indicates  his  anxiety  for  the  spiritual  good  of  his  relatives. 

# 

"  WEYNOUTH,  March,  12,  3813. 

"  Dear  Parents — We  thank  you  for  your  friendly  letters,  and  regret  that 
we  have  not  expressed  our  gratitude  sooner.  It  always  gives  us  pleasure 
to  hear  from  you,  but  never  have  we  felt  this  pleasure  to  so  high  a  degree 
as  when  we  received  your  last  communications.  We  can  assure  you  they 
gave  us  joy  that  was  new.  We  now  anticipate  much  pleasure  in  future 
communications  of  feelings,  in  which,  we  humbly  hope,  we  can  mutually 
share.  The  doctrines  upon  which  you  appear  at  last  to  have  founded  your 
hopes,  are,  I  believe,  the  only  sure  foundation.*  We  cannot  open  the  Bible 
but  our  eyes  meet  some  black  line,  bearing  reproach  and  shame  against  hu- 
man nature.  Man  has  corrupted  his  way  before  the  Lord.  The  iniquity 
which  appears  in  his  life,  originates  in  a  heart  at  enmity  with  God,  and  wiih 
everything  holy.  Such  a  heart  has  rendered  him  unfit  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  It  must  be  renewed,  and  none  can  renew  it  but  God.  A  way  must 
be  contrived  in  which  God  can  consistently  pardon  and  save  the  sinner. 
This  way  was  devised  by  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  is  made 

*  This  letter  is  a  reply  to  one  received  from  his  father-in-law  Dr.  J.  Barker,  an- 
nouncing  his  conversion  from  Socinianism  to  orthodoxy. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xix 

known  in  the  gospel.  Christ  must  die,  and  his  blood  become  the  fountain  in 
which  the  sinner  is  cleansed  from  his  guilt,  and  the  price  which  buys  him  a 
pardon.  Blood,  of  such  value,  cannot  be  the  blood  of  a  mere  creature. 
Christ  must  be  the  Jehovah  of  the  Scriptures.  If  G-od  save  sinners  he 
must  save  all,  or  must  choose  whom  he  will  save,  or  must  find  out  some 
other  way  to  make  the  selection.  No  other  way  having  been  discovered, 
and  there  being  wise  reasons  why  he  should  not  save  all,  he  elects  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  leaves  others  to  reject  the  gospel  and  perish.  Those  who 
perish  are  not  injured,  those  who  are  saved  receive  nothing  but  grace.  Those 
once  lost  can  never  be  saved,  because  they  will  have  no  Savior.  Christ  will 
have  gathered  in  his  elect,  and  have  given  up  the  kingdom.  Then  he  that 
is  filthy  must  be  filthy  still.  Thus  is  there  a  concatenation  in  Divine  truth. 
One  acknowledged,  we  must  acknowledge  «//,  or  be  inconsistent.  Destroy 
one  link,  and  the  whole  series  falls  to  the  ground. 

"  It  is,  however,  a  distressing  fact,  that  men  often  become  convinced 
of  these  truths  in  their  understandings,  yet  never  embrace  them  with 
their  hearts  nor  act  them  out  in  their  lives.  Such  were  they  who  are 
accused  by  the  apostle  of  holding  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.  But  I 
have  always  supposed  that  such  men  may  be  easily  known.  We 
shall  see  that  their  lives  do  not  correspond  with  their  doctrines.  They 
will  be  likely  to  neglect  %nany  important  duties  of  religion.  They  will 
not  be  spiritual  in  their  conversation.  Their  favorite  theme  will  not  be 
the  religion  of  the  heart.  They  will  appear  trifling  in  their  manners. 
They  will  at  least  show,  while  conversing  on  the  truths  of  the  gospel, 
that  these  truths  have  never  made  much  impression  upon  their  hearts. 
You  may  easily  see  that  it  is  their  wish  to  be  esteemed  pious.  They  will 
be  likely  to  tell  you  that  they  have  thought  much  on  these  things.  You  will 
find  them  unwilling  to  make  much  sacrifice  for  the  truth.  If  truth  is  not 
very  popular  in  the  company  where  they  chance  to  be,  they  will  either  re- 
main silent,  or  by  some  crouching,  well  directed  sentences,  will  throw  their 
weight  into  the  scale  of  error.  In  this  way  they  will  steer  along,  free  from 
persecution,  will  please  all  parties,  and  offend  none. 

"  O,  how  different  is  this  conduct  from  that  of  the  martyrs !  They  con- 
fessed the  truth,  till  their  tongues  were  stiffened  to  a  coal,  and  would  do 
their  office  no  longer  !  May  the  Almighty  God  give  me  this  lot,  rather  than 
the  lot  of  those  who  act  the  coward,  and  betray  their  Master.  Such  time- 
servers  can  never  be  useful.  Half  the  time  they  are  counted  among  the 
friends  of  Zion,  but  the  other  half,  they  swell  the  ranks  of  the  foe.  If  God 
be  God,  we  ought  to  serve  him,  but  if  Baal,  then  let  us  serve  him.  Halt- 
ing between  two  opinions  ruins  the  soul.  I  love  to  see  correct  sentiment, 
but  more  yet  a  holy  life.  Religion  must  bear  fruit.  AVhen  the  Spirit  of 
God  has  taught  a  man  the  truth,  it  is  delightful  to  see  the  effect  it  will  im- 
mediately have  upon  his  life.  Let  a  man  be  savingly  taught  this  one  truth, 
that  sin  has  polluted  his  soul,  and  you  will  immediately  see  the  effect.  If 
morally  polluted,  he  will  feel  that  he  lies  at  uncovenanted  mercy.  This 
will  effect  his  prayers,  his  hopes,  his  fears,  and  his  joys.  He  will  feel  that 
a  polluted  creature  ought  to  he  modest,  humble,  meek,  fearful,  cautious, 


XX  •  BIOGRAPHY 

watchful,  and  thankful.  Every  action  of  such  a  man  will  tell  you  that  he 
has  seen  his  heart.  Every  gospel  truth  will  have  a  similar  effect.  No 
sooner  is  Christ  formed  in  our  heart,  the  hojje  of  glory,  than  the  lineaments 
of  that  impression  will  be  drawn  out  in  the  life. 

"  And  then  the  world  will  be  angry.  Real  religion  cannot  appear  in  such 
a  shape  as  to  please  unrenewed  men.  No,  you  might  as  well  join  noon  to 
midnight.  If  unholy  men  are  generally  pleased  with  us,  depend  upon  it  we 
are  not  holy.  The  world  will  love  his  own.  As  soon  as  we  begin  to  follow 
Christ  they  will  cast  out  our  names  as  evil.  We  shall  be  hated  of  all  men 
for  his  sake.  But  those  who  persevere  are  blessed.  An  inheritance  incor- 
ruptible, undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  is  reserved  for  them  in  heaven. 

"  My  dear  parents,  excuse  my  freedom.  I  knew  not  what  I  should  write 
when  I  took  my  pen,  but  the  sweet  subject  opened  before  me,  and  I  could 
not  stop.  We  are  all  in  good  health.  We  have  friends  and  enemies.  We 
love  God  so  little  that  we  have  but  little  spiritual  joy.  I  hope,  however, 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  among  us,  and  will  give  us  a  little  reviving  in  our 
bondage.  The  girl  who  lives  with  us  seems  to  be  under  deep  and  solemn 
impressions.  I  really  believe  that  God  is  about  to  bring  her  home  to  him- 
self. We  have  established  an  inquiring  meeting— and  they  are  sweet  meet- 
ings. But  I  must  stop.  The  Lord  bless  and  comfort  you.  Eliza  joins  with 
me  in  assurances  of  affection. 

"  Your^bedient  son,  DANIEL  A.  CLARK." 

Mr.  Clark  remained  at  Weymouth,  strongly  and  pointedly  proclaiming 
the  great  truths  of  the  Bible,  till  the  fall  of  1815 ;  when  the  state  of  his 
wife's  health,  which  demanded  a  milder  climate,  together  with  the  oppo- 
sition arrayed  against  him,  induced  him  to  seek  a  dismission.  This  he 
honorably  obtained,  and  removed  to  New-Jersey,  and  labored  through  the 
succeeding  winter  at  Hanover,  amid  scenes  of  religious  interest. 

In  January,  1816,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Southbury,  Connecticut.  Of  his  labors  here,  there  is  no  record  at  hand. 
We  only  learn  that  here,  as  elsewhere,  his  labors  were  blessed.  It  was 
while  at  Southbury  that  he  prepared  and  preached  the  sermon  entitled 
"  The  Church  Safe,"  which  has  been  so  generally  read,  and  so  warmly 
admired. 

Not  only  did  he  perform  the  duties  which  devolved  upon  him  as  a  min- 
ister in  this-  field ;  he  also  taught,  gratuitously,  for  a  considerable  time,  a 
large  school,  that  he  might  raise  the  standard,  and  promote  the  cause  of 
education  in  the  place  and  the  vicinity. 

Upon  determining  to  leave  this  place,  Mr.  Clark  received  invitations 
from  the  churches  in  Waterbury,  and  in  North  Haven,  Connecticut,  and 
from  the  church  in  the  West  Parish,  Amherst,  Mass.,  which  last  he  ac- 
cepted, and  was  installed,  Jan.  26,  1820.  Rev.  Mr.  Porter,  of  Farmington, 
preached  on  the  occasion. 

At  this  time,  Mr.  Clark  was  in  the  maturity  arid  full  strength  of  his 
faculties ;  and  it  was  here  that  he  prepared  and  preached  some  of  his 
ablest  sermons.  Amongst  those  listened  to  with  peculiar  interest,  was  a 


OF   THE    AUTHOR.  Xxi 

series  on  the  text, — "For  if  the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  sound,  who 
shall  prepare  himself  to  the  battle  ?"  which,  with  many  more  of  his  best 
discourses,  were  unfortunately  lost,  by  being  lent  to  a  clerical  friend. 

There  was  one  season  of  more  than  usual  religious  interest,  during  his 
ministry  at  Amherst,  which  he  watched  over  with  great  solicitude,  and 
labored  most  abundantly  to  promote.  The  work  was  more  in  the  outer 
districts  of  the  parish  than  at  the  centre.  He  sustained  meetings  in  these 
districts,  and  many  of  them  he  describes  as  very  solemn  and  searching. 
Professors  of  religion  were  constrained  to  give  up  their  hopes,  repent, 
and  do  their  first  works,  and  begin  anew  the  Christian  life.  Some  of  .the 
dead  in  sin  were  awakened,  and  hopefully  converted  to  God.  The  precise 
number  is  not  known. 

There  was  at  this  time  also  a  revival  in  the  College,  which  acquired 
impulse  and  strength  from  his  bold  and  fervid  preaching.  "  As  there 
was  no  church,  and  no  preaching  on  the  Sabbath  in  the  College,"  says 
Dr.  Humphrey,  in  his  account  of  this  revival,  "  the  students  attended  wor- 
ship in  the  village,  and  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark, 
which  was  well  adapted  to  show  them  their  guilt  and  danger,  and  which 
seems  to  have  been  very  much  blessed  in  the  conviction  and  conversion 
of  sinners.  Had  the  trumpet,  at  this  critical  juncture,  given  an  uncertain 
sound — had  any  human  voice  cried  '  peace,  peace,'  in  contradiction  to  the 
word  of  God,  which  declares  that  there  is  no  peace  to  the  wicked,  how 
many  might  have  lingered  and  perished  on  the  plain,  who,  it  is  hoped,  fled 
for  refuge  to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  them  in  the  gospel." 

Mr.  Clark  encountered  opposition  and  trials  in  this  field.  Charges  were 
were  brought  against  him  affecting  his  character;  and  some  of  them,  if 
sustained,  must  have  destroyed  his  standing  and  influence.  A  committee, 
appointed  by  the  church  to  examine  into  these  allegations,  in  their  report, 
remark :  "  That  a  considerable  portion  of  the  alleged  charges  are,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  committee,  entirely  unworthy  of  notice;  because,  if  the 
circumstances  stated  were  proved  to  be  true,  they  would  not  implicate  the 
moral  character  of  any  man  against  whom  they  might  be  preferred.  Some 
others,  which  have  the  appearance  of  evil,  your  committee  have  traced  to 
their  source,  and  have  ascertained  that-they  are  wholly  unfounded." 

A  remonstrance  was  made  by  the  church  to  the  council,  called  to  con- 
sider these  charges,  against  the  dismission  of  their  pastor,  on  the  alleged 
ground  that  his  usefulness  was  at  an  end.  The  main  reason  by  which  the 
remonstrance  was  sustained  was,  "  That*  they  did  not  believe  a  minister's 
usefulness  to  consist  in  keeping  men  quiet  in  their  sins,  but  in  awakening 
the  conscience,  making  it  perform  its  office ;  exposing  the  native  enmity  of 
the  heart,  and  then  beseeching  men  to  be  reconciled  unto  God ;  also  in  the 
perfecting  of  the  saints,  and  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ.  We  think 
his  preaching  eminently  calculated  to  accomplish  these  great  designs  of  a 
preached  gospel,  and,  of  course,  conclude  that  his  usefulness  is  not  at  an 
end  here." 

The  council  on  this  case  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  imposing  we 
have  ever  witnessed.  There  were  thronged  assemblies,  and  eloquent  ad- 


XX11  BIOGRAPHY 

vocates,  and  venerable  judges.  The  result  was  altogether  favorable  to 
the  pastor.  They  say,  in  the  result,  "  Few,  it  is  presumed,  would  have 
have  sustained  so  strict  a  scrutiny  with  so  little  injury.  They  sympa- 
thize in  his  afflictions ;  and,  with  full  confidence  in  his  ability  and  disposi- 
tion to  be  highly  useful  in  the  church,  they  cordially  tender  to  their  brother 
and  friend  their  affectionate  salutations.  Long  may  he  be  continued  as  a 
burning  and  shining  light ;  and  may  the  lustre  of  his  doctrine  and  his  life 
be  more  and  more  conspicuous,  till  he  shall  be  removed  to  a  brighter 
world,  where  darkness,  temptation,  and  sorrow,  are  for  ever  unknown.1' 

The  time  at  which  the  council  was  convened  was  the  second  Tuesday 
of  February,  1824.  Mr.  Clark  remained  in  Amherst  for  a  season  after  the 
action  of  this  council,  and  discharged  his  ministerial  duties;  and,  amongst 
other  things,  prepared  and  published  his  "  Conference  Sermons" — "  a  volume 
of  sermons  to  be  used  in  religious  meetings  where  there  is  not  present  a 
gospel  minister."  This  book  was  very  favorably  received,  and  met  with  a 
more  rapid  sale  than  the  author  anticipated. 

He  was  among  the  first  in  projecting  and  laying  the  foundation  of  Am- 
herst College ;  gave  largely  of  his  means  for  its  support,  and  spent  some 
time  in  traveling  and  collecting  funds  for  its  permanent  establishment. 

At  length  Mr.  Clark  withdrew  from  Amherst,  in  acceptance  of  a  call  to 
the  church  in  Berinington,  Vt.,  where  he  was  installed,  June  14, 1826.  His 
early  friend  and  teacher,  Dr.  Griffin,  was  a  member  of  the  Council,  and 
preached  the  sermon  on  the  occasion.  It  was  a  peculiar  satisfaction  to 
him  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  that  venerable  man,  to  whom  he  owed  so 
much,  and  whom  he  loved  so  well.  Dr.  Griffin  was  often  at  his  house,  and 
in  pleasant  familiarity  would  pat  him  on  his  shoulder,  and  call  him  his  boy. 

His  ministry  here  seems  to  have  been  a  laborious  and  successful  one. 
As  heretofore,  he  proclaimed  the  truth,  and  assailed  wickedness  with  great 
faithfulness  and  boldness;  and  the  Spirit  gave  it  efficacy,  and  stubborn 
wills  were  bowed  beneath  it.  But  while  some  submitted,  others  were 
more  malignantly  aroused.  The  following  instance  of  threatening  hostility, 
with  its  remarkable  result,  used  to  be  related  by  himself  with  peculiar 
emotions. 

"  A  few  fellows,  in  their  desperation,  banded  together  violently  to  break 
up  an  inquiry  meeting,  held  at  the  Court  House.  They  armed  themselves 
with  stones,  and  proceeded  to  the  place.  When  they  came  in  sight  of  the 
house,  they  were  met  by  a  power  they  had  not  thought  of.  The  stones  fell 
from  their  hands,  and  the  greater  part  of  them  went  reverently  in,  and 
submitted  their  minds  to  the  instructions  and  influences,  which,  just  before, 
in  their  hatred,  they  meant  to  abolish. " 

The  following  paper,  from  two  gentlemen,  members  of  the  church  in 
Bennington,  give  other  particulars  of  his  ministry  in  this  place. 

"  Mr.  Clark  being  the  only  pastor  of  our  denomination  in  the  town,  embrac- 
ing a  population  of  nearly  four  thousand,  there  being,  also,  several  small  vil- 
lages remote  from  each  other,  his  labors  were  necessarily  severe.  Enjoying 
good  health,  he  spared  no  pains  to  do  everything  in  his  power  for  the  benefit 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXUi 

of  his  people.  In  addition  to  preaching  three  times  on  the  Sabbath,  he  held 
several  other  meetings  in  different  parts  of  the  town,  and  a  stated  weekly 
meeting  at  the  factory  village  of  Hinsdillville.  At  this  latter  place,  early  in 
the  fall,  a  precious  revival  commenced,  and  spread  with  surprising  power  to 
the  other  parts  of  the  town.  A  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  now  appoint- 
ed. One  of  the  large  factory  buildings  was  prepared  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  people,  and  probably  a  larger  concourse  of  persons  came  togeth- 
er on  that  occasion  than  had  ever  before  assembled  in  the  town.  An  occa- 
sion like  this  could  not  fail  of  eliciting  Mr.  Clark's  best  powers.  The  truth 
fell  from  his  lips  with  overwhelming  power  and  energy,  and  being  accom- 
panied, as  was  very  manifest,  by  the  Spirit's  agency,  it  cut  its  way,  like 
waves  of  fire,  to  the  sinner's  inmost  soul.  A  considerable  number,  on  the 
spot,  were  convicted  of  sin,  and  it  is  believed  were  converted  to  God.  The 
cloud  which  had  been  hanging  over  us,  now  seemed  to  burst,  and  to  deluge, 
as  it  were,  with  salvation,  the  whole  town.  The  Church,  fearing  that  Mr. 
C.  would  sink  under  his  multiplied  labors,  called,  at  this  time  to  his  aid  a 
faithful  brother  in  the  ministry.  Meetings  were  now  held  every  evening  in 
different  parts  of  the  town,  in  connection  with  the  general  meeting  once  a 
week  held  at  the  centre  village.  The  work  went  on  with  great  power  and 
steadiness,  and  continued  through  the  winter,  and  resulted  in  bringing  more 
than  one  hundred  converts  into  the  Church,  most  of  whom  have  done  honor 
to  their  profession,  and  many,  we  trust,  are  now  enjoying  the  society  of  their 
beloved  pastor,  in  that  bright  world  where  they  have  met,  to  part  no  more 
for  ever.  We  have  lived  to  see  many  revivals,  but  never  have  we  witness- 
ed one  of  more  thrilling  interest  than  this,  or  when  the  power  of  God  was 
more  discernible. 

"  Mr.  C.  was  happy,  in  devising  means  for  blessing  the  dear  people  of  his 
charge.  The  revival  had  no  sooner  subsided,  than  he  began  to  contemplate 
with  a  melancholy  interest,  the  ravages  which  Intemperance  had  made,  and 
was  still  making,  in  the  town.  At  that  time  his  people  had  not  the  light 
which  has  been  shed  by  the  present  Temperance  Reform,  to  guide  him. 
Even  good  men  had  labored  hitherto  under  the  mistaken  notion,  that  a  mo- 
derate use  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  not  only  not  hurtful,  but  beneficial.  Mr.  C. 
felt,  however,  that  something  could,  and  must  be  done,  to  stay  the  ravages 
of  the  destroyer.  He  came  forward  with  this  proposition,  *  Let  the  name 
of  every  individual  in  the  town  be  obtained,  who  is  willing  to  report  faith- 
fully, what  amount  of  distilled  liquor  he  has  used  in  his  family  during  the 
current  year."1  Strange  as  it  may  seem  now,  only  twenty-five  persons, 
among  a  population  of  about  four  thousand,  could  be  induced  to  go  even 
that  length.  As  loose,  however,  as  this  compact  was,  it  still  resulted  in 
great  good,  for  it  demonstrated,  what  had  not  yet  been  found  out  among  this 
people,  that  total  abstinence  from  ardent  spirit  was  a  practicable  thing.  The 
year  came  round.  None  !  was  appended  to  the  names  of  eight  out  of 
twenty-five.  This  result  was  both  surprising  and  encouraging.  The  second 
annual  report  was  still  more  gratifying.  The  Society  now  numbered  more 
than  one  hundred  members,  most  of  whom  had  wholly  abstained  from  the  use-* 
of  distilled  liquors.  The  sale  of  liquors  in  the  town  had  been  reduced  nearly 


XXIV  BIOGRAPHY 

one-half.  At  this  meeting  the  Society  ventured  to  advance  another  step. 
It  was  accordingly  resolved  to  practice  total  abstinence  from  distilled  spirit. 
This,  at  that  time,  was  thought  to  be  a  very  ultra  measure,  and  stirred  up 
the  united  wrath  of  the  rum-drinkers  and  rum-sellers  of  the  place.  And 
here  commenced,  permit  us  to  state,  the  first  organized,  settled  opposition  to 
Mr.  C.  in  Bennington — an  opposition  which  was  severe  and  unrelenting — 
but  which  only  served  to  inspire  him  with  increased  zeal  ana  energy  in  car- 
rying forward  the  cause  of  his  Master.  The  Society  now  went  steadily  for- 
ward, increasing  in  numbers  and  in  usefulness.  They  have  now  adopted 
the  total  abstinence  pledge,  and  numbers  over  twelve  hundred  members, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  thorough  and  efficient  societies  that  we  are  ac- 
quainted with  in  any  part  of  the  country.  With  all  this  before  us,  we  cannot 
help  remarking,  that  the  day  of  small  things  is  not  to  be  despised. 

"  One  fact,  in  connection  with  the  Temperance  Reform  in  Bennington,  we 
cannot  refrain  from  stating,  as  it  as  an  illustration  of  Mr.  Clark's  manner  of 
unmasking  error,  and  of  his  boldness  in  preaching  the  truth.  The  temper- 
ance cause  having  advanced  so  far  as  to  admit  of  a  question  whether  pro- 
fessors of  religion  ought  to  be  engaged  in  the  traffic  or  not,  a  Church  meet- 
ing was  called  to  discuss  the  subject.  At  that  time  we  had  a  very  worthy 
Deacon  who  was  trafficking  in  the  poison,  who  came  forward,  and  in  a  la- 
bored argument,  tried  to  convince  the  Church,  that,  as  the  sale  would  go 
on,  it  had  better  be. confined  to  conscientious  persons,  who  would  be  more 
decent  about  it  than  others.  The  Deacon  had  no  sooner  resumed  his  seal, 
than  Mr.  Clark  arose,  and  replied  in  substance,  as  follows :  '  Strange  doc- 
trine this !  The  argument  of  my  brother  goes  too  far.  It  would  prove 
that  all  the  theatres,  and  brothels,  should  be  kept  by  conscientious  men,  that 
sinners  might  be  guided  down  to  hell  the  more  decently.  No!  no!  If  it 
must  be  sold,  I  would  place  at  the  tap  the  same  old  lying  serpent  that  hand- 
ed Eve  the  apple,  that  it  might  appear  to  be  the  very  infernal  traffic  that 
it  is.' 

"  The  Bible  was  a  precious  book  to  our  beloved  pastor.  He  was  not  only 
himself  a  diligent  student  of  it,  but  was  unwearied  in  his  efforts  to  promote 
in  others,  a  knowledge  of  the  sacred  word.  During  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  time  while  he  resided  at  Bennington,  he  superintended  three  weekly 
Bible  classes,  in  different  parts  of  the  town — the  one  on  the  Sabbath  at  in- 
termission, he  called  his  '  Bibliary?  to  which  all  the  congregation  were  in- 
vited. These,  as  we  trust  many,  and  ourselves  among  the  number,  can  tes- 
tify, were  seasons  of  great  profit  and  interest.  It  was  a  source  of  high  sat- 
isfaction to  him,  to  impart  from  his  great  and  well  stored  mind,  the  results 
of  his  deep  research  and  profound  reflections  upon  Divine  truth. 

"  Mr.  Clark  was  not  only  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Scriptures,  but  he  was,  also,  a  warm  patron  and  supporter  of 
schools  and  lyceums.  As  evidence  of  this  we  will  state,  that  as  one  of  us 
was  engaged,  during  our  whole  residence  in  Bennington,  in  conducting  a 
high  school,  if  we  were  at  all  successful  in  that  labor,  (and  the  public  must 
now  judge  to  what  extent  we  were,)  we  owe  that  success  more  to  his 
counsel  and  hearty  support,  than  to  any  other  cause. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXV 

"A  spirited  Lyceum,  through  his  influence,  was  established,  and  sup- 
ported with  ability,  while  it  had  his  presence  to  encourage  and  stimulate 
Its  members,  and  lecture  before  them. 

"  Mr.  Clark,  as  a  preacher,  was  bold,  original,  pungent,  direct.  No  one 
could  listen  to  him  during  a  single  discourse,  without  feeling  that  he  was 
in  the  presence  of  a  great  and  master  spirit.  He  wielded  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  like  some  mighty  giant,  tearing,  as  it  were,  the  stubborn  oaks  up  by 
the  roots,  and  sweeping  away  the  refuge  of  lies,  dashing  in  pieces  the  false 
hopes  of  the  Church,  giving  no  quarter  to  sin,  in  any  shape  or  form,  in  high 
places  or  low.  No  difficulty  nor  trials  could  daunt  him,  or  divert  him  a 
moment  from  his  purpose.  Whatever  was  truth,  he  would  advocate  it,  no 
matter  what  the  opposition.  Surrounded  as  he  was  with  a  mass  of  infi- 
delity and  ungodliness,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  his  bold  and  fearless 
course  would  awaken  no  hostile  feelings.  Very  soon  after  the  great  revival 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  the  elements  of  wrath  began  to  combine  for  his 
overthrow  and  removal.  His  exposures  of  iniquity,  both  out  of  the  church 
and  in,  were  too  glaring  to  be  endured  in  silence.  His  enemies  not  being 
able  to  meet  him  in  the  fair  and  open  field  of  argument,  undertook  to  over- 
throw him  by  the  weapon  of  scandal.  So  great  was  the  charm  that  accom- 
panied his  preaching,  that  some  of  his  bitterest  enemies  never  failed  to  be 
among  his  auditors,  although  they  would  curse  him  the  moment  they  left 
the  sanctuary.  And  some  of  them,  so  great  was  their  desire  to  hear  him, 
— and  they  were  not  willing  to  do  it  in  an  open  manner, — were  found  in 
secret  places,  as  they  thought,  unobserved,  listening  to  the  truth  as  it  fell 
from  his  lips,  and  yet  would  not  come  to  Christ,  that  they  might  have  life. 
Infidelity  was  struck  dumb  before  his  powerful  arguments,  and  some  of 
the  most  learned  and  able  of  all  the  sceptics  in  that  place  were  brought  to 
embrace  the  Savior  during  his  ministry. 

"  Mr.  Clark's  situation  as  a  pastor,  in  consequence  of  the  untiring  oppo- 
sition that  he  met  with,  having  been  persevered  in  for  a  number  of  years, 
becoming  at  length  so  unpleasant,  that  after  a  connection  of  about  five 
years  with  the  church  and  society,  he  requested  them  to  unite  with  him  in 
calling  a  mutual  Council,  for  his  dismission.  The  Council,  believing  that 
Mr.  C.  could  be  more  useful  in  some  other  field  of  labor,  advised  to  a  disso- 
lution of  the  pastoral  relation.  By  the  consent  of  all  parties,  this  advice 
was  acquiesced  in.  The  Council  accompanied  their  act  of  dissolution  with 
a  resolution,  recommending  Mr.  Clark  to  the  undiminished  confidence  of 
the  churches. 

"  The  above  account,  we  are  sensible,  does  but  slender  justice  to  the 
faithful,  talented,  and  devoted  ministry  of  your  honored  and  lamented  father 
in  Bennington.  The  revelation  of  secret  things  only,  we  believe,  will  fully 
unfold  all  the  beneficial  results  of  his  untiring  labors  among  that  people." 

He  received  a  dismission  from  his  charge  here,  and  in  the  fall  of  1830, 
went  to  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  again  occupied  the  pulpit  of  Dr.  Beman,  who  found 
it  necessary  to  travel  to  the  south,  on  account  of  his  health.    He  appears 
4 


XXVI  BIOGRAPHY 

to  have  entered  upon  this  field  with  great  earnestness;  and  performed, 
during  his  stay,  a  vast  amount  of  labor. 

The  following  brief  sketch  of  his  labors  in  this  city,  is  given  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Beman. 

"  Your  father  commenced  his  labors  in  the  first  x'resbyterian  Church,  in 
the  Autumn  of  1830.  My  own  health  had  been  for  some  time  impaired, 
and  I  had  concluded,  by  the  advice  of  friends,  to  spend  the  approaching 
winter  in  the  southern  States.  It  was  a  great  object  with  my  congregation 
and  myself,  to  procure  a  suitable  and  efficient  supply  for  my  pulpit,  during 
my  absence.  My  thoughts  were  first  directed  to  your  father,  from  the  fact, 
that  I  had  known  him  intimately  in  early  life.  He  had  supplied  my  pulpit, 
during  a  temporary  illness  on  my  part,  in  Portland,  Maine,  in  1811 ;  and  I 
was  at  that  time  much  interested  in  his  preaching.  I  had  been  informed, 
before  I  recommended  him  to  my  congregation,  in  Troy,  that  he  would  pro- 
bably be  willing  to  leave  Bennington,  if  a  promising  field  of  labor  were  to 
present  itself. 

"  He  accepted  the  invitation  given  to  him  by  the  Session  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  after  being  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  he 
commenced  his  labors  ui  Troy,  in  the  fall  of  1830,  soon  after  my  departure 
for  the  south.  In  this  station,  Mr.  Clark  was  acceptable  as  a  preacher,  and 
the  Church  and  congregation  were  kept  together,  and  increased  under  his 
ministry. 

"  About  the  close  of  the  year  1830,  after  mutual  consultation  and  advice, 
Mr.  C.  and  the  Session  of  the  Church  appointed  what,  with  perhaps  a  sin- 
gle exception,  was  a  new  thing  in  this  part  of  the  country — '  a  four  days 
meeting.'  As  the  time  approached  the  responsibility  of  the  undertaking 
seemed  to  increase,  and  they  all  felt  it  deeply.  They  betook  themselves  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  and  resolved  to  repose  their  trust  in  God,  and  meet  the 
occasion.  They  did  so.  Mr.  C.  enjoyed  the  labors  of  some  faithful  breth- 
ren in  the  jninistry,  and  a  deep  impression  was  made  during  the  meeting. 
Many  were  convicted.  Some  '  who  came  to  scoff,  remained  to  pray.'  All 
before  had  been  as  quiet  as  death.  The  Churches  in  the  city  and  neighbor- 
hood had  been,  for  some  time,  in  a  state  of  religious  declension ;  but  a 
blessed  revival  now  commenced,0  which  spread  through  the  city,  and  ex- 
tended to  several  Churches  in  the  country. 

"  In  the  congregation  to  which  Mr.  C.  ministered,  the  shower  oi  mercy  was 
extensive  and  refreshing.  The  revival  continued,  with  greater  or  less  pow- 
er, through  the  winter.  The  Church  was  much  engaged,  and  many  who 
had  lived  without  hope  and  without  God  in  the  world,  were  converted. 
The  blessed  fruits  of  this  awakening  are  seen  and  felt  in  the  Church  to  this 
day.  Some  of  the  converts  have  already  gone  in  triumph  to  heaven, 
and  others  are  walking  with  God  on  the  earth.  No  doubt  very  many  will 
feel  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Clark's  labors  and  this  revival,  in  an  endless  eternity. 

"  In  the  month  of  March,  one  hundred  persons  were  received  to  the 
Church,  on  profession  of  their  faith  ;  and  a  number  more,  as  the  fruits  of  this 
revival,  at  subsequent  communions  during  the  year.  The  Church,  to  this 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXvH 

day,  look  back  to  this  time  of  refreshing,  as  one  of  the  most  blessed  they 
have  ever  enjoyed. 

"  Mr.  Clark  continued,  as  the  supply  of  this  congregation,  till  some  time 
in  the  month  of  June,  when  the  pastor  returned  and  resumed  his  labors. 
His  preaching  was  characterized  by  solemnity,  directness,  and  power.  The 
Church  felt  it — and  sinners  felt  it — and  long  will  the  memory  of  Daniel  A. 
Clark,  as  an  able  and  faithful  servant  of  God,  be  embalmed  in  the  affections 
of  this  people." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  by  an  intelligent  layman,  in 
relation  to  Mr.  Clark's  labors  at  Troy  : 

"  Whilst  a  degree  of  deadness  seemed  to  pervade  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
the  Church,  fears  were  entertained  that  the  congregation ,would  suffer  from 
the  absence  of  their  pastor.  After  laboring  a  few  Sabbaths,  Mr.  Clark  call- 
ed a  meeting  of  the  Session,  and  the  question  was  asked,  what  could  be 
done  to  interest  the  minds  of  the  congregation  on  the  subject  of  their  spirit- 
ual interests;  or,  in  other  words,  most  directly  and  powerfully  to  promote  a 
revival  of  religion  ?  It  was  proposed  that  a  '  four  days  meeting '  should  be 
held,  during  which  the  truth  might  be- constantly  held  up  before  the  minds 
of  the  Church,  and  such  of  the  impenitent  as  might  be  disposed  or  induced 
to  attend.  In  accordance  with  this  plan,  such  a  meeting  was  appointed 
about  the  middle  of  December,  and  this  was  the  first  of  those  assemblages 
in  that  section  of  the  country,  which  have  been  since  denominated,  'Pro- 
tracted Meetings.'  The  blessing  attending  it  exceeded  the  expectation  of 
the  Church,  and  of  those  whose  happy  lot  it  was  to  labor  in  it.  During  this 
meeting  Mr.  C.  was  favored  with  the  assistance  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kirk  of  Al- 
bany, and  Mr.  Tracy  of  Nassau ;  and  subsequently,  during  a  week,  or  more, 
in  the  month  of  January,  with  that  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin  of  Williams 
College.  Many  were  convicted  and  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Savior, 
and  a  powerful  revival  extended  throughout  the  city,  and  to  many  places  in 
the  vicinity.  Many  were  added  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beman's  Church,  and  great 
accessions  were  made  to  the  other  Presbyterian  Churches,  and  to  Churches 
of  other  denominations. 

"  In  adopting  this  novel  measure,  much  solicitude  was  felt  on  the  part  both 
of  Mr.  C.  and  the  Church,  and  a  fear  lest  the  blessing  might  be  withheld  led 
them,  no  doubt,  to  cast  themselves  on  God  for  help.  In  Mr.  C.,  this  feel- 
ing seemed  manifest  in  addressing  the  assembly  on  one  of  the  first  days  of 
the  meeting.  Early  the  next  morning,  at  a  prayer  meeting  held  at  a  pri- 
vate house,  a  number  of  impenitent  sinners  presented  themselves  to  be  made 
the  subjects  of  prayer.  From  this  period  the  work  progressed  with  interest 
to  the  opening  of  the  spring.  Many  who  labored  with  the  preacher 
through  those  interesting  scenes,  will  ever  remember  the  deep  feeling  and 
the  interest  manifested  by  him  in  behalf  of  inquirers,  lest  they  should  con- 
tinue to  resist  the  truth,  or  settle  on  some  false  ground  of  hope;  and  in  be- 
half of  converts,  lest  they  should  fail  of  deriving  instruction  and  consolation 
from  the  Word,  necessary  to  their  progress  in  the  Christian  race,  and  growth 
in  holiness." 


BIOGRAPHY 

Mr.  Clark's  labors  in  this  place  resulting  as  they  did,  were  of  course 
highly  appreciated,  and  will  be  remembered  by  many  with  joyful  interest, 
to  the  ages  of  eternity.  He  subsequently  labored  in  Utica  and  vicinity,  in 
places  where  God  was  pouring  out  his  Spirit.  His  preaching  was  much 
sought  after,  and  very  highly  prized  in  these  scenes  of  hallowed  in- 
terest. He  took  up  his  abode  for  a  short  season  in  Utica.  On  his  way  to 
this  place,  on  board  one  of  the  canal  boats,  he  met  with  an  accident  which 
very  sensibly  affected  one  of  his  modes  of  communication  and  address.  He 
broke  the  thumb  of  his  right  hand,  by  which  he  was  rendered  incapable  of 
writing,  except  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  then  very  illegibly.  He 
left  Utica  the  latter  part  of  June,  1832.  He  moved  with  his  family  on 
Thursday:  the  cholera  commenced  its  ravages  three  doors  off,  On  the 
following  Sabbath,  and  before  Wednesday,  it  had  numbered  two  victims  in 
the  very  house  Mr.  Clark  had  left.  Such  Providential  interpositions  he 
always  observed,  and  was  much  affected  by  them. 

On  July  17,  of  this  year,  Mr.  Clark  was  installed  over  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  Adams,  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.  This  was  his  last  charge,  and 
his  labors  were  very  brief;  being  obliged,  by  the  state  of  his  health,  to 
withdraw  at  the  end  of  little  more  than  a  year.  His  iron  constitution, 
which  had  stood  firm  under  the  hardest  labors  and  most  heaving  emotions, 
now  gave  way.  "  The  first  indication  of  the  fatal  change,"  says  one  of  his 
sons,  "  occurred  in  this  way.  He  had  been  laboring  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  a 
town  on  the  lake,  and  returned  on  Saturday  evening,  to  supply  his  own 
pulpit  the  next  day.  On  Monday  morning  early,  a  carriage  was  sent,  with 
the  earnest  entreaty  that  he  would  immediately  return  to  Sackett's  Har- 
bor, as  the  truth  uttered  by  him  on  Saturday,  had  taken  effect.  To  my 
mother's  amazement  he  refused  to  go,  having  ever  showed  the  utmost 
readiness  to  engage  in  such  labors.  On  the  same  day  he  prepared  a  skele- 
ton of  a  sermon,  and  handing  it  to  my  mother,  burst  into  tears,  and  said, 
'  My  dear,  I  am  done — I  cannot  read  that  paper — I  leave  you  a  widow  and 
my  children  orphans.'  Never  shall  I  forget,  to  my  dying  day,  the  manner 
in  which  my  father  received  the  unwelcome  evidence  that  his  disease  had 
assumed  a  fatal  character.  His  great  strength  was  now  gone.  From  that 
ment  he  failed  gradually,  till  God  called  him  home." 

Being  no  longer  equal  to  the  duties  of  a  settled  minister,  he  took  leave 
of  his  people  at  Adams,  and  removed  to  New  York,  in  the  fall  of  1833, 
where  his  children  resided,  and  were  engaging  in  business.  He  was  attack- 
ed, soon  after  he  came  to  the  city,  with  his  first  stroke  of  paralysis,  which, 
however,  was  so  slight,  that  his  friends  were  not  sure  of  its  nature.  He 
employed  himself,  partly,  in  preparing  contributions  for  religious  periodicals, 
and  in  supplying,  for  a  few  weeks  together,  the  vacant  pulpit  of  some 
neighboring  church.  Another  and  prominent  labor  of  these  days  of  weak- 
ness, was  getting  ready  for  the  press,  and  getting  out,  the  three  volumes 
of  Sermons  which  appeared  in  1 836  and  '7.  His  labor  upon  these  was  doubt- 
less a  relief  to  his  mind,  as  he  intimates  in  the  preface.  "  But  since  his 
health  has  failed  and  he  can  no  longer  stand  in  the  holy  place,  rather  than 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XX'ix 

bear  the  agony  of  living  to  no  purpose,  he  has  decided  to  arrange  and  issue 
these  three  volumes." 

This  "  agony  "  he  felt  upon  receiving,  about  this  time,  an  eligible  call  to 
settle ;  and  he  wept  that  he  could  not  accept  it.  He  knew  that  a  change 
had  come  over  him,  but  the  nature  of  that  change  he  could  not  understand. 

His  friends  hoped  much  from  a  southern  voyage  and  residence.  In  the 
fall  of  1834,  he  took  passage  for  Charleston,  S.  C.,  where  he  spent  the  win- 
ter, amid  the  hospitality  and  kindness  peculiar  to  that  city.  Though  in  a 
feeble  state  of  health  while  there,  he  used  both  his  voice  and  his  pen.  He 
preached,  occasionally,  with  some  of  his  usual  earnestness  and  energy;  and 
he  contributed  to  the  New  York  Observer  his  "  First  impressions  of  Charles- 
ton," with  the  signature  "  A  bird  in  the  air."  He  also  contributed  con- 
siderable matter  to  the  Charleston  Observer.  At  times  his  strength  would 
seem  to  return,  and  he  would  be  capable,  for  a  little  season,  of  great  mental 
effort :  then  again,  his  disease  would  come  back,  and  in  a  moment  change 
all  this  strength  to  utter  imbecility. 

In  the  spring  of  1835,  he  returned  with  no  improvement  in  his  health. 
Frequent  depletion  was  resorted  to,  and  continued  while  he  lived,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  obstinate  determination  of  blood  to  the  head,  which  was  the 
ever  pressing  symptom. 

In  the  fall  of  1837,  he  was  removed  with  the  family  to  New  Haven,  in 
the  hope  that  a  more  quiet  residence  might  prove  beneficial  to  him.  Here 
new  scenes,  and  new  friends,  seemed,  at  first,  to  produce  a  change  for  the 
better.  It  was  here  that  he  preached,  with  great  difficulty,  his  last  sermon, 
from  the  words :  "  JBehold,  thou  hast  spoken  and  done  evil  things  as  thou 
couldst."  Jer.  iii.  :\  He  was  soon  after  seized  with  a  fit  of  paralysis  of  so 
severe  a  character,  as  to  threaten  a  speedy  termination  of  his  life.  His  sons 
were  summoned  from  New  York,  with  the  expectation  that  he  was  then  to 
die ;  but  God's  purpose  was  not  so.  The  paralysis  affected  the  right  side, 
and  the  organs  of  speech.  After  this,  he  was  not  able  to  walk  with  ease 
and  take  active  exercise,  as  he  had  before  done.  His  condition,  at  this 
time,  is  prophetically  depicted  by  himself,  in  the  second  volume  of  his 
Works,  pp.  154,  155. 

In  the  spring  of  1838,  finding  that  the  removal  was  of  no  benefit  to  him, 
the  family  returned  to  New  York.  During  this  year  he  gradually  failed, 
and  was  henceforth  incapable  of  any  mental  effort.  His  disease  came  upon 
him  in  renewed  and  severe  attacks,  till  it  broke  down  the  strong  texture 
of  his  mind.  He  often  expressed  the  wish  that  he  might  die  in  the  full 
possession  of  his  faculties,  and  with  his  hopes  of  heaven  firm  and  bright. 
While  he  was  favored  with  some  seasons  such  as  he  desired,  it  was  often 
his  lot  to  lie  either  spiritually  or  mentally  under  a  cloud.  He  sometimes 
expressed  the  fear  that  he  should  be  lost ;  that  he  had  never  been  born  of 
the  Spirit,  and  washed  in  the  Redeemer's  blood.  When  asked,  why  then 
he  attended  meetings  with  so  much  interest,  he  replied,  with  emphasis, 
"  That  he  loved  to  see  the  cause  of  Zion  prosper,  and  souls  brought  in,  even 
if  he  had  no  part  in  those  provisions  himself." 

He  evinced  great  tenderness  of  conscience,  and  said  it  grieved  him  that 


XXX  BIOGRAPHY 

he  had  ever  requested  any  one  to  receive  less  than  the  stated  price  for  any 
article.  His  seasons  of  protracted  depression  and  gloom  were  occasionally 
relieved  by  the  pleasing  illusion  that  he  was  surrounded  by  old  and  dear 
friends,  who  had  been  long  dead ;  and  that  two  of  his  sons,  who  were  tra- 
veling in  Europe,  had  returned,  and  were  by  his  side.  In  one  of  his  dark 
hours,  a  friend  said  to  him,  "  The  Lord  says,  '  In  six  troubles  I  will  be  with 
you,  and  in  seven  I  will  not  forsake.'  "  He  replied,  that  he  had  no  objection 
to  the  interpretation,  and  appeared  composed  and  soothed  by  the  thought. 
It  was  pleasing  to  his  friends  to  observe,  that  at  those  times  when  the  light 
of  reason  was  dimmed  by  the  thick  and  heavy  darkness  of  his  disease,  there 
were  decisive  indications  of  the  strong  religious  habit  of  his  mind,  and  of 
his  warm  attachment  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  After  he  had  lost  the  power 
of  speech,  and  even  of  consciousness,  a,s  it  was  thought,  a  friend  related  in 
his  room  the  particulars  of  a  work  of  grace  then  in  progress  in  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  where  he  loved  to  attend  church  when  he  was  able.  He  re- 
ceived the  intelligence,  and  it  seemed  to  thrill  his  bosom  ;  for  he  cast  forth 
at  the  close  a  beaming  glance,  and  then  burst  into  tears — the  way  he  had 
for  a  long  time  expressed  all  kinds  of  emotion.  Zion,  for  whose  welfare  he 
labored  in  life,  he  appeared  to  love  in  death.  On  March  3,  1840,  without  a 
struggle  or  a  groan,  he  calmly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

He  was  faithfully  attended  during  his  protracted  illness,  by  his  intimate 
friend,  Dr.  James  C.  Bliss,  of  New  York,  in  whose  skill  his  friends  have 
ever  reposed  the  utmost  confidence.  His  disease  was  one  of  rare  occur- 
rence— the  ossification  of  the  arteries  of  the  brain. 

His  funeral  was  attended  on  Friday,  the  6th,  by  a  large  number  of  cler- 
gymen and  friends.  The  procession  moved  to  the  Br^idway  Tabernacle, 
where  appropriate  exercises  were  performed  by  Rev.  Dr.  Parker,  (who  de- 
livered the  address,)  and  by  Rev.  Dr.  Patton  and  the  Rev.  William  Adams, 
in  presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  people.  Solemn  is  the  scene  when  the 
minister  dies,  and  becomes  the  subject  of  the  services  he  had  so  often  per- 
formed over  the  remains  of  others ;  and  preaches,  not  with  the  living  voice 
from  the  pulpit,  but  with  silent  eloquence  from  the  coffin.  On  Saturday, 
his  remains  were  taken  to  New-Haven,  and  after  religious  exercises  in  Rev. 
Henry  Ludlow's  Church,  were  consigned  to  the  family  resting  place,  in  the 
beautiful  cemetery  of  that  city. 

It  is  proposed  to  conclude  this  sketch  with  some  remarks  upon  Mr.  Clark 
as  a  man,  a  Christian,  a  minister,  and  a  preacher;  in  other  words,  upon  his 
social,  religious,  and  professional  character. 

In  his  social  character,  there  was  much  simplicity  and  frankness.  He  was 
ever  ready  to  declare  his  sentiments  ,with  free,  bold  independence.  This 
trait,  existing  in  connection  with  a  deficiency  of  worldly  tact  and  manage- 
ment, not  unfrequently  brought  him  into  circumstances  of  trial  and  diffi- 
culty. Hence  it  was,  that  he  had  many  very  warm  friends,  and  some  as 
warm  enemies.  But  when  injured,  his  seemed  not  the  spirit  of  retaliation. 

His  solicitude  for  the  right  conduct,  and  present  and  future  welfare  of  his 
children,  appears  in  letters  which  he  wrote  to  them  when  absent  from  him. 
The  following  items  of  advice,  to  a  son  in  College,  are  sententious  and  forcible : 


OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

"  O  my  son,  it  is  easy  to  tell  you  how  to  be  happy,  and  I  will  spend  the 
rest  of  this  page  in  telling  you  how.  Set  your  heart  on  God.  Say  to  your- 
self, God  made  me,  and  has  a  right  to  me,  and  shall  have  my  whole  heart. 
Make  it  your  business  to  prepare  to  be  useful.  Do  nothing,  merely  because 
you  love  to,  unless  it  be  wise,  and  right,  and  good.  Do  nothing,  that  you 
will  have  to  deny  you  did.  Do  nothing  that  you  will  be  ashamed  to  have 
it  known  you  did.  Do  right.  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do 

to  you.     Be  the  best  scholar  you  can  be.     Lose  no  time ;  time  is  money 

Read  your  Bible  daily,  and  every  day  pray  for  heavenly  wisdom Refuse 

to  be  found  a  moment  in  the  company  of  vile  men.  Remember  that  char- 
acter is  made  up  of  morsels ;  every  look,  and  gesture,  and  word,  and  smile, 

and  frown,  constitutes  each  its  distinct  morsel  of  that  character 0,  my 

son,  you  cannot  cease  to  be,  till  the  sun  goes  out,  and  time  runs  out,  and 
eternity  wears  out,  and  God  shall  cease  to  be.  Now  one  that  must  live  so 
long,  and  whose  happiness  through  all  that  long  life,  depends  wholly  on 
character,  canjaot  take  too  much  pains  in  forming  that  character  just  right. 
I  embrace  religion,  of  course,  in  my  calculations'  respecting  character. 
What  will  render  us  estimable  in  the  sight  of  God  as  well  as  in  the  sight  of 
men,  is  above  all  price." 

"  Again  in  another  letter: "It  will  soon  be  too  late.     The  College 

character  is  fixed  the  first  year ;  and  the  character  for  life  fixed  in  College, 
and  the  character  for  eternity,  fixed  in  early  life.  Now  you  must  love  your 
Maker,  or  what  can  you  love  ?  and  must  care  for  what  he  says,  or  whom 
can  you  care  for,  or  what  ?  How  tremendous  are  the  months  that  are  now 
revolving  over  you— months  that  will  tell  on  your  character  and  destiny 
when  myriads  of  ages  have  rolled  away?" 

.  He  was.  remarkable  throughout  his  whole  life  for  his  industry.  A  gen- 
tleman, who  is  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in  his  native  state,  said  of  him : 
"  He  was  always  busy,  never  lost  any  time,  and  entered  with  all  his  soul 
into  whatever  engaged  his  attention." 

In  his  religious  character,  Mr.  Clark  seems  not  to  have  been  character- 
ized by  the  cheerful  and  hopeful.  In  the  fine  language  of  Robert  Hall,  he 
did  not  so  much  "soar  to  the  heights,  as  sound  the  depths  of  Christian  pie- 
ty." Instead  of  "  regaling  himself  with  fruit  from  the  tree  of  life,  he  was 
often  on  the  waves  of  an  impetuous  sea,  doing  business  in  the  mighty  wa- 
ters." With  all  his  experience  of  human  depravity,  and  his  profound  esti- 
mate of  its  malignant  and  dreadful  energies,  he  had  firm  confidence  in  the 
greatness  of  the  atonement,  and  the  greater  energies,  already  pledged  and 
soon  to  be  put  forth,  in  the  subjugation  of  a  world  to  Christ.  He  loved  to 
contemplate  God  as  on  the  throne,  the  Almighty  Sovereign  in  the  kingdom 
of  nature  and  of  grace,  achieving  his  benignant  purposes,  bringing  into  ser- 
vice the  wrath  of  his  foes,  securing  the  redemption  of  unnumbered  souls, 
and  the  glory  of  his  own  great  name. 

It  is  very  manifest  through  all  the  preceding  narrative,  that  Mr.  Clark 
was  a  great  lover  of  revivals  of  religion,  and  he  showed  his  attachment  by 
the  zeal  and  power  of  his  labors  to  promote  them,  while  preparing  for  the 
ministry — through  all  his  pastoral  life— arid  after  he  ceased  to  be  a  pastor, 


XXX11  BIOGRAPHY 

his  heart  seemed  full  and  intensely  glowing  when  in  the  midst  of  a  revival 
scene. 

Mr.  Clark  loved  the  sanctuary,  and  the  services  and  ordinances  of  God's 
house.  "  I  would  do,"  he  says,  "  without  a  roof  to.  cover  my  head,  and  have 
my  lodging  in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks,  but  I  must  go  to  the  house  of  the  Lord 
and  fix  my  dying  grasp  upon  the  horns  of  the  altar."  It  was  strikingly  so ;  for 
the  very  last  time  he  ever  went  out,  it  was  to  stagger  to  a  Methodist  Church 
near  his  dwelling,  that  he  might  still  again  worship  God  in  "  the  sanctuary." 

Mr.  Clark  loved  very  ardently  the  cause  of  the  Bible  and  missions,  and 
all  those  operations  which  are  sustained^for  the  saving  of  the  nations,  and 
the  ushering  in  of  the  day  of  millennial  glory.  No  one,  who  has  read  the 
"  Church  Safe,"  throughout  which  the  heart  seems  to  speak,  can  doubt  Mr. 
Clark's  warm  attachment  to  the  benevolent  doings  of  his  times.  "  When 
the  bosom  of  charity  shall  beat  a  little  stronger,  if  there  shall  be  necessity, 
men  will  sell  houses  or  farms  to  save  the  sinner  from  hell,  and  the  child 
will  sit  down  and  weep,  who  may  not  say,  that  his  father  anc^mother  were 
the  friends  of  missions.  And  what  parent  would  entail  such  a  curse  upon 
his  children,  and  prevent  them  from  lifting  up  their  heads  in  the  millenium? 
I  had  rather  leave  mine  toiling  in  the  ditch,  there  to  enjoy  the  luxury  of 
reflecting  that  a  father's  charity  made  them  poor.  Poor !  They  are  poor  who 
cannot  feel  for  the  miseries  of  a  perishing  world,  to  whom  God  has  given 
abundance,  but  who  grudge  to  use  it  for  his  honor.  Teach  your  children 
charity,  and  they  can  never  be  poor." 

Mr.  Clark  loved  and  honored  prayer.  He  seems  to  have  laid  great  stress 
upon  it  as  the  life  and  power  of  all  other  means.  He  sought  it  for  himself 
through  all  his  ministry ;  he  sought  it  with  great  earnestness  for  a  dying 
world.  "  The  observance  of  the  first  Monday  in  January  as  a  day  of  prayer 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world,"  writes  the  Rev.  Leicester  A.  Sawyer,  "  was 
first  proposed  by  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark,  to  the  Presbytery  of  Watertown, 
N.  Y.,  at  a  semi-annual  meeting  of  that  body,  held  in  February,  1833.  A 
memorial  was  addressed  by  that  Presbytery  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
same  year,  requesting  the  Assembly  to  take  order  in  favor  of  the  observance 
of  that  concert.  The  memorial  was  favorably  received,  and  led  to  the  re- 
commendation of  the  annual  concert  to  the  numerous  churches  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Assembly.  Mr.  Clark  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which 
reported  the  memorial  above  mentioned,  and  was  the  author  of  that  in- 
teresting document."  Mr.  Clark  prayed  himself  like  a  man  who  was 
accustomed  to  the  exercise.  He  prayed  in  the  sanctuary  with  great  fervor, 
often  with  a  surprising  richness  and  scope  of  sentiment.  His  range  and 
variety  were  indeed  remarkable:  few  men  whom  we  have  heard  in  public 
prayer  exceeded  him  in  these  respects.  He  was  loth  to  cease  praying  with 
others,  even  after  his  faculties  had  become  exceedingly  impaired.  In  his 
clearer  seasons,  he  would  often  call  his  family  around  his  bed,  and  pray 
with  them;  and  continued  to  do  this,  after  he  had  so  far  lost  the  power  of 
articulation,  that  they  could  not  understand  him.  Entering  by  accident  a 
female  prayer  meeting,  among  the  last  days  he  walked  out,  he  was  sup- 
posed not  to  hear;  and  when  asked  to  take  a  part,  he  at  first  refused,  but 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXXlli 

soon  broke  out  in  a  fervent,  heavenly  prayer,  with  an  originality  of  concep- 
tion and  freedom  of  utterance  which  astonished  his  friends.  It  is,  indeed, 
as  the  poet  says, 

Prayer  is  the  Christian's  vital  breath, 
The  Christian's  native  air  ; 
His  watch- word  at  the  gate  of  death — 
He  enters  heaven  by  prayer." 

In  his  professional  career^  Mr.  Clark  was  hearty  and  laborious.  He 
labored,  we  have  seen,  for  the  intellectual  elevation  of  his  people.  He 
labored  for  their  moral  improvement,  for  their  deliverance  from  intempe- 
rance and  all  degrading  vice.  He  labored  more  especially  for  their  conver- 
sion to  God,  and  preparation  for  heaven.  He  sought  this  end  in  pastoral 
visitation.  During  one  whole  winter,  in  one  of  his  most  arduous  fields,  he 
appointed  on  the  Sabbath,  family  visits  for  every  morning  in  the  week;  and 
he  met  the  families  designated,  and  the  neighbors  who  came  in,  making 
sometimes  quite  a  congregation ;  and  his  labors  of  this  sort,  were  greatly 
blessed.  He  sought  the  same  great  end  in  his  preaching.  He  loved  to 
preach ;  and  he  gratified  this  affection  by  actually  preaching  a  great  deal, 
both  in  season  and  out  of  season.  He  was  accustomed  to  go  out  and  preach 
statedly  in  the  neighborhoods  of  his  society.  It  was  not  uncommon  for  him 
to  preach  three  times  on  the  Sabbath,  and  on  every  evening  in  the  week.  And 
then  when  he  went  from  home,  he  would  preach  as  he  could  find  opportuni- 
ty. Even,  when  on  a  journey,  as  he  stopped  for  a  night  in  a  village,  he 
would  sometimes  make  his  arrangements,  issue  his  notice,  cause  the  bell  to 
be  rung,  and  preach  to  those  who  might  assemble,  and  in  the  morning  go  on 
his  way.  His  repeated  declaration  was,  "  I  must  work  while  the  day  lasts," 
and  he  did  work  with  great  constancy.  His  constitution  was  a  strong  one, 
as  it  must  have  been,  to  sustain  the  earnest  labors  of  twenty-one  years,  with 
the  loss  of  but  a  single  Sabbath  from  ill  health. 

We  here  introduce  extracts  from  two  letters,  written  by  two  clergymen  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  witnesses  of  Mr.  Clark's  labors  at  the  time,  which 
bring  out  still  further  the  traits  of  his  religious  character,  and  professional 
course. 

The  first,  an  esteemed  minister  in  Vermont,  writes: 

"  I  would  speak  first  of  how  much  Mr.  Clark  was  loved  and  admired  as  a 
a  preacher  by  his  friends,  which  were  many.  I  had  the  privilege  of  sitting 
under  his  ministry  one  year.  I  have  ever  esteemed  it  one  of  the  most  pre- 
cious years  of  my  life.  I  lived  three  milesj^m  the  place  of  worship,  yet  I 
do  not  recollect  that  I  missed  of  hearing  him  a  single  Sabbath.  The  reason 
was,  I  could  not  bear  to  forego  the  luxury  of  attending  upon  his  preaching. 
I  speak  the  words  of  soberness  when  I  say,  that  during  that  time  1  never 
heard  a  sermon  but  I  was  sorry  when  it  was  done. 

"  The  effect  of  his  eloquence,  of  the  boldness  of  his  conceptions,  of  his 
striking  and  appropriate  figures  upon  his  hearers,  was  often  very  great.  A 
lady  remarked  to  me,  that  at  one  time,  his  eloquence  had  such  an  over- 
5 


XXXIV  BIOGRAPHY 

powering  effect  upon  her,  that  she  felt  afraid  that  she  should  die  if  he  proceeded 
farther.  I  am  conscious  of  having  experienced  feelings  somewhat  similar 
more  than  once,  while  listening  to  him.  We  felt,  when  he  spoke,  that 
there  was  power — power  of  thought,  power  of  illustration,  accompanied  by 
a  powerful  voice,  whose  deep  tones  seemed  at  times  to  shake  the  founda- 
tions of  the  sanctuary. 

"  Though  Mr,  Clark  prepared  his  two  written  sermons  every  Sabbath, 
still  he  excelled  as  an  extempore  preacher.  This  I  had  abundant  reason 
to  know,  as  he  often  attended  a  third  service,  in  the  chapel  in  our  village. 
One  Sabbath  afternoon,  a  gentleman,  who  was  about  to  go  out  as  a  foreign 
missionary,  preached  for  him,  from  the  words,  "  The  night  is  far  spent,  the 
day  is  at  hand ;  let  us  therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,"  &c.  In 
the  evening,  Mr.  Clark  came  to  our  chapel,  and  preached  from  the  same 
text  two  full  hours.  During  all  this  time,  every  eye  was  fixed  upon  the 
speaker;  there  was  not  one  exhibited  weariness.  Many  were  heard 
next  day  to  say,  "  We  were  sorry  when  the  sermon  was  done — we  should 
have  been  willing  to  have  listened  two  hours  longer."  That  sermon  was  a 
topic  of  conversation  in  the  village  for  weeks  after  it  was  delivered.  In- 
deed, his  sermons  were  generally  a  topic  of  conversation  in  our  village,  for 
the  week  following.  I  remember  distinctly  feeling  every  hour,  for  more 
than  a  week,  the  impression  that  one  of  his  sermons  made  upon  me,  from 
the  words,  "  Wherein  is  he  to  be  accounted  of?"  And  though  ten  years 
have  elapsed  since  the  evening  I  heard  the  sermon,  I  remember  that  he  told 
us  how  the  text  came  to  his  mind,  while  lying  awake  at  the  solemn  hour 
of  midnight,  and  how  the  sentiment  of  the  text  unfolded  to  his  mind  and 
impressed  his  heart. 

"  Mr.  Clark's  sermons  were  filled  with  thought,  often  original,  always 
concisely  and  strikingly  expressed.  I  was  often  impressed  with  this  fact, 
while  a  student  in  the  classical  seminary  at  B.  The  teacher  gave  us  an 
exercise  every  Monday  morning,  to  repeat  one  or  more  thoughts  of  the  ser- 
mons we  had  heard  the  previous  Sabbath.  I  observed  that  we  always 
had  an  abundance  of  them  when  Mr.  Clark  had  been  the  preacher,  some- 
times a  meagre  supply,  when  others  had  preached. 

"  The  power  of  God,  as  exhibited  in  governing  a  revolted  world,  a  race 
of  rebels,  seemed  to  have  deeply  impressed  Mr.  Clark's  mind,  and  to  have 
given  shape  and  character  to  his  conceptions.  He  loved  to  dwell  on  the 
text,  "  Thou  shall  make  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  thee,  and  the  remainder 
thereof  thou  shalt  restrain."  He.  loved  to  tell  how  God  controlled,  and 
overpowered,  and  changed  the  hearts  of  his  enemies,  while  in  the  undis- 
turbed exercise  of  their  free  aggkicy.  He  abounded  in  anecdotes  illustra- 
tive of  this  great  truth. 

"  Mr.  Clark  excelled  in  his  knowledge  of  the  unrenewed  human  heart;  in 
portraying  its  desperate  depravity,  its  opposition  to  God  and  to  holiness.  His 
faithful  exhibitions  of  the  native  human  heart  procured  him  many  enemies, 
and  the  exhibition  of  their  enmity,  which  he  saw  and  felt,  but  served  to 
give  him  a  more  vivid  impression  of  their  wickedness,  and  to  induce  him 
to  hold  up  more  prominently  their  fearful  guilt.  Perhaps  he  erred  some- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  ..         XXXV 

times,  in  needlessly  exasperating  the  impenitent,  by  too  honestly  giving 
utterance  to  his  heartfelt  and  unmitigated  abhorrence  of  their  guilt  and 
rebellion. 

"  Mr.  Clark  was  not  one  of  those  preachers  who  think  it  expedient  to 
hold  back  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  during  seasons  of  great  re- 
ligious excitement.  The  first  time  I  heard  him  preach,  was  under  the  fol- 
lowing circumstances.  A  powerful  revival  had  just  commenced  in  a 
manufacturing  village  in  the  town  of  B.  A  great  number  were  awakened, 
and  deeply  alarmed,  but  there  had  been  but  few  conversions.  In  view  of 
the  existing  state  of  things,  the  Church  had  appointed  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer.  The  meeting  was  held  in  a  large  dry-house,  connected  with  a 
woollen  factory.  It  was  computed  that  nearly  one  thousand  persons  were 
present.  The  deepest  soWmnity  and  stillness  prevailed,  interrupted  only 
by  the  occasional  sigh  or  groan  of  a  burdened  heart.  A  neighboring  min- 
ister preached  in  the  morning.  Mr.  Clark,  in  the  afternoon,  to  the  surprise 
and  grief  of  many,  myself  among  the  rest,  preached  on  the  sovereignty  of 
God.  But  that  sermon  told  on  those  awakened  guilty  hearts,  and  from 
that  hour,  the  revival  went  on  with  increased  power.  As  a  master  work- 
man, he  looked  over  that  immense  audience,  and  saw  how  and  where  to 
strike  the  blow. 

"  In  conclusion,  I  would  remark,  that  Mr.  Clark  eminently  excelled  in 
imparting  Biblical  instruction.  His  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  was  great, 
and  he  possessed  a  peculiar  faculty  of  imparting  that  knowledge  to  others. 
All  pressed  to  his  Bible  classes,  young  and  old,  infidel  and  Christian." 

The  other,  a  respected  clergyman  in  western  New  York,  says : 

"  When  I  was  a  youth,  while  residing  in  Milford,  Mass.,  I  became  deeply 
interested  in  the  writings  and  character  of  Mr.  Clark,  by  reading  his  tract, 
*  The  Church  Safe.'  My  pastor,  the  Rev.  David  Long,  thought  so  much  of 
that  production,  that  he  caused  it  to  be  publicly  read  on  the  Sabbath. 

"  My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Clark  was  formed  at  the  time  he  visit- 
ed Homer,  Courtlandville,  and  vicinity — I  should  think,  in  1831.  A  '  four 
days  meeting'  was  attended  at  McLean,  in  Groton,  Tompkins  County.  It 
was  conducted  by  several  pastors,  who  invited  Mr.  Clark  to  preach.  He 
complied,  enlisting  his  whole  soul  in  the  work.  I  recollect  several  of  his 
texts: — Jer.  iii.  5.  "Behold,  thouhast  spoken  and  done  evil  things  as  thou 
couldest."  While  he  was  preaching  on  that  text,  such  was  the  view  of 
human  depravity  which  he  gave,  and  such  was  the  sense  which  I  had  of 
my  own  native  depravity,  that  a  faintness  came  over  me  ;  and  I  really  be- 
lieve that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  hope  which  I  had  in  the  atonement  of 
Jesus,  I  should  have  sunk  to  the  floor.  Another  text  was  Luke  x.  11. 
"  Notwithstanding,  be  ye  sure  of  this,  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come 
uigh  unto  you."  This  was  the  closing  sermon  of  the  meeting  —  it  was 
most  affecting.  He  told  the  people,  that  as  he  should  depart  from  the  vil- 
lage, he  would  pause  on  yonder  hill,  and  pour  one  more  flood  of  tears  over 
sinners  in  that  place,  who  had  rejected  the  kingdom  of  God,  though  it  had 
come  so  nigh  unto  them. 


XXXVI  BIOGRAPHY 

"  On  one  of  the  days  of  the  meeting,  a  pious  woman  inquired  of  me,  '  Is 
that  the  Mr.  Clark  who  wrote  The  Church  Safe  ?'  On  being  assured  that 
it  was, '  Then,'  said  she,  '  I  must  speak  with  him.  Immediately  she  was 
introduced.  As  she  took  his  hand,  she  said  with  much  emotion,  '  That  tract — 
The  Church  Safe — has  done  my  soul  so  much  good,  that  I  felt  as  if  I  must 
shake  hands  with  the  man  who  wrote  it.'  '  My  good  woman,'  said  Mr.  Clark, 
bursting  into  tears,  *  I  am  thankful  to  the  Lord  if  my  poor  labors  have 
been  useful  to  you.'  I  was  delighted  with  his  Christian  simplicity,  and 
more  still,  with  the  sincere  gratitude  which  he  so  feelingly  expressed,  for 
the  evidence  that  he  had  been  useful  to  an  humble  individual. 

"  It  was  either  a  little  prior,  or  a  little  subsequent  to  the  meeting  at 
McLean,  that  I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  with  Mr.  Clark,  at  the  residence 
of  a  mutual  friend  of  ours,  or  rather,  his  particular  friend,  and  the  friend  of 
my  ancestors.  Mr.  Clark  and  this  pious  layman,  had  been  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  each  other  at  Amherst,  Mass.  This  good  man  had  passed 
through  changing  scenes ;  he  was  once  in  a  situation  among  New-England 
farmers,  as  is  denominated  by  the  significant  phrase — '  good  circumstances.' 
But  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  he  was  a  laborious  tenant  upon  the  farm  of  an- 
other. He  was  at  a  little  distance  from  us,  stooping  down,  busily  engaged  at 
his  toil.  Mr.  Clark,  standing  in  a  thoughtful  posture,  .fixed  his  eyes  upon 
him,  as  if  he  were  taking  a  serious  retrospect  of  his  past  history,  when,  ad- 
dressing himself  to  me,  he  uttered  the  following  expression,  with  an  em- 
phasis which  I  can  never  write — '  God  loves  that  man?  I  suppose  that  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  convey  to  others  the  impression  which  this  remark 
made  upon  my  mind. 

"  Mr.  Clark's  sermons,  I  find,  are  most  valued  by  that  class  of  Christians 
who  are  intelligent,  who  have  been  much  in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  and 
who  are  best  acquainted  with  the  deep  recesses  of  their  own  hearts.  His 
sermons  will  not  be  appreciated  by  those  who  just  run  them  over,  glancing 
at  the  heads  and  the  conclusion.  They  must  be  read  studiously  and  devo- 
tionally,  then  they  will  do  the  soul  good.  I  consider  them  as  admira- 
bly adapted  to  be  useful  to  Churches  that  are  destitute  of  preaching. 
'  God  loved  that  man,'  I  have  no  doubt,  and  loves  him  still  more  as  his  spi- 
rit mingles  amid  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect." 

It  is  a  gratifying  circumstance,  when  the  sermons  of  one,  who  was  heard 
with  so  marked  interest  and  profit,  are  given  to  the  public.  Those  who 
heard  Mr.  Clark,  will  be  glad  to  get  possession  of  his  printed  discourses. 
The  eloquence  that  thrilled  us,  when  we  listened  to  the  living  voice  of  its 
author,  we  long  to  take  to  our  closets  and  re'ad.  No  person  of  discernment 
can  read  far  in  these  pages,  without  perceiving  that  the  author  possessed  a 
strongly  marked  intellect,  which  he  could  easily  put  under  the  highest 
pressure  of  feeling ;  that  he  was  not  remarkable  for  the  refined,  the  acute, 
the  hair-splitting,  but  for  the  strong,  the  massive,  the  weighty;  that  the 
reasoning  faculty  in  him  was  of  the  practical,  common  sense  sort ;  the  ima- 
gination, within  certain  limits,  vigorous  and  good ;  the  power  of  language, 
original  and  striking. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXXVll 

Perhaps  the  attempt  to  sketch  the  characteristic  features  of  these  ser- 
mons, in  the  same  volume  which  contains  them,  is  superfluous,  as  every 
reader  has  an  opportunity  to  judge  for  himself.  We  ask,  however,  to  be  in- 
dulged in  this  respect,  that  we  may  complete  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Clark's 
powers  as  a  herald  of  the  everlasting  gospel. 

Thes*  sermons  are  constructed  not  for  a  temporary,  but  a  permanent  and 
progressive  popularity.  They  have  not  the  light  and  frothy  brilliancy  which 
would  fit  them  to  be  gazed  at  and  admired  for  a  day,  and  then  to  be  for- 
gotten, but  they  possess  those  at  once  solid  and  attractive  qualities,  which 
will  cause  them  to  be  read  in  far  future  times. 

The  subjects  upon  which  these  sermons  are  written  are  of  a  general  and 
permanent  interest.  While  they  are  not  so  prominently  experimental  as  are 
found  in  the  discourses  of  some  preachers,  they  are  such  as  the  mind  and 
heart  respond  to,  and  are  deeply  interested  in.  Mr.  Clark  seems  not  so 
much  at  home  on  topics  which  lead  to  a  nice  analysis  of  the  spiritual  man, 
as  upon  those  which  are  connected  with  the  security,  and  the  certain  tri- 
umph of  the  Christian  on  the  one  hand  ;  with  the  depravity,  the  madness, 
the  impotence,  the  sure  defeat  and  the  utter  shame  and  ruin  of  the  enemy 
of  God  on  the  other.  The  two  contrasted  subjects,  "  The  Church  Safe," 
and,  "  Nothing  Safe  but  the  Church,"  furnish  the  field,  over  which  he  rang- 
ed the  most  adroitly  and  powerfully.  Mr.  Clark  takes  pleasure  in  accom- 
panying the  Church  through  her  conflicts,  and  •  developing  the  stability  of 
her  basis,  and  the  invincible  might  of  her  Protector.  He  loves  to  group  to- 
gether and  accumulate  on  his  pages  the  perfect  evidence  of  her  safety. 

We  find  all  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Christian  system  brought  -out  in 
the  sermons  of  Mr.  Clark,  with  the  utmost  distinctness.  The  trumpet  in 
no  place  gives  an  uncertain  sound.  We  do  not  read  far  to  learn,  that  the 
author  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity,  of  the  atonement, 
total  depravity,  regeneration,  election,  the  saints'  perseverance,  and  eternal 
reward  and  punishment. 

Whilst  the  sermons  are  not  formally,  dryly  doctrinal,  in  them  all  we 
have  discussions  of  great  truths  and  principles,  which  give  them  a  solid 
and  instructive  character.  On  one  page,  the  attributes  and  glory  of  God 
meet  and  awe  us ;  on  another,  the  love  and  offices  of  Christ  attract  and 
give  us  peace ;  from  another,  the  Comforter  offers  to  come  into  our  hearts; 
in  this  discourse,  a  picture  of  human  vileness  pains  and  humbles  us ;  in  that, 
the  law  draws  upon  us  its  two-edged  sword;  in  the  other,  mercy  points  to 
the  place  of  refuge  from  the  avenging  stroke.  The  whole  gospel  is  here 
strongly  and  discriminately  presented.  Mr.  Clark  contended  earnestly  for 
the  faith  and  the  order  of  the  gospel.  His  arguments  and  efforts  were 
rather  with  the  semi-Christian,  who  professedly  received  the  gospel,  but  re- 
jected its  great  doctrines,  than  with  those  who  rejected  the  Bible  and  all 
that  was  in  it ;  or  with  brethren  who  differed  from  him  in  some  minor 
shades  of  sentiment. 

In  the  general  arrangement  and  structure  of  his  sermons,  Mr.  Clark  ex- 
hibits a  good  degree  of  simplicity.  They  never  appear  so  elaborately 
studied,  or  curiously  drawn  out,  as  to  cause  perplexity  to  the  mind ;  or  as 


"«»  W*,"'^'  '£* 


XXXV111  BIOGRAPHY 

to  lead  us  to  the  bones  for  the  most  striking  part  of  the  structure.  He  fre- 
quently adopts  the  textual  mode ;  and  where  it  is  not  a  breaking  up  of  the 
words  of  the  text  into  the  heads  of  the  sermon,  which  he  sometimes 
does,  there  is  a  very  free  statement  of  topics,  one  after  the  other,  as  they 
are  naturally  suggested  by  the  passage  chosen  as  the  basis  of  the  discourse. 
For  instance,  the  forty-sixth  sermon — "  The  honest  and  faithful  ministry" 
—on  2  Cor.  iv.  1,  2. 

The  textual  division  has  this  advantage  ;  the  preacher  has  an  opportunity 
to  bring  out  the  full  and  rich  meaning  of  the  passage  in  hand.  The  sermon 
grows  out  of  the  text ;  separate  from  the  text,  it  can  have  no  existence ;  it 
is  biblical  and  authoritative.  We  ought  not  to  despise  the  textual  style  of 
proceeding,  though  some  seem  to  do  it,  as  not  being  so  scholarlike,  so  con- 
formable to  rule,  so  favorable  to  unity,  and  to  a  logical  and  symmetrical 
discourse  as  some  other.  It  is  the  style  which  the  heart  often  inclines  to, 
in  its  earnest  desire  to  bring  forth  and  make  effective  the  simple  gospel 
upon  the  souls  of  men.  We  have  thought,  sometimes,  that  when  we  have 
the  least  disposition  to  preach  ourselves,  we  have  the  strongest  inclination 
to  arrange  our  matter  in  the  humble,  unpretending,  textual  way. 

This  more  biblical  mode,  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Clark,  is  admirably  vindi- 
cated. Few  men  have  the  power  he  exhibits  of  building  striking  and  in- 
teresting paragraphs  upon  very  common-place  heads.  The  plan  may  be 
almost  stupidly  textual ;  but  in  the  filling  up,,  there  will  be  original  and 
vigorous  thoughts,  in  very  cogent  language.  Perhaps  there  is  no  better 
test  of  real  power  than  this.  The  preacher,  who  will  take  the  common 
subjects  and  the  common  topics  of  discourse,  and  imbue  them  with  a  more 
energetic  spirit,  and  invest  them  with  a  deeper  and  more  commanding  in- 
terest, has  the  very  best  power  and  qualification  for  his  work,  and  will 
secure  the  best  kind  of  popularity. 

Mr.  Clark  is  not  at  all  a  hortatory  preacher ;  he  furnishes  a  good  pro- 
portion of  clear  and  weighty  discussion.  He  does  not  assail  us  with  fierce, 
unbased  appeals ;  never  attempts  to  carry  the  heart  by  hurling  against  it 
volleys  of  rattling  words.  He  first  packs  together  a  solid  body  of  truth,  and 
then  brings  that  body  in  contact,  either  as  fire  to  melt,  or  as-  a  hammer  to 
break  the  rock  in  pieces. 

He  invariably  employs  the  popular  and  rhetorical  style  of  reasoning.  His 
arguments  are  remarkable  for  a  reliance  upon  Scripture  facts  to  give  them 
force  and  conclusiveness.  In  some  of  his  best  efforts,  there  is  no  other 
reasoning  than  a  logical  adducing  and  linking  together  of  scriptural  facts. 
The  first  sermon,  entitled  "  The  Church  Safe,"  is  a  fine  example  of  this.  As- 
surance of  the  proposition  is  made  out,  1,  "From  the  firmness  and  stability 
of  the  Divine  operations."  Under  this  head,  expectation  is  excited.  It  is 
strengthened,  2,  by  a  view  of  "  What  God  has  done  for  his  Church."  Un- 
der this  head,  the  prominent  Divine  interpositions  in  favor  of  Zion's "interests 
are  graphically  and  rapidly  sketched.  3.  "  God  is  doing  now  just  such 
things  as  he  has  done."  4.  "  The  expectation  is  consummated  by  a  glance 
at  the  promises  and  the  prophecies."  As  a  specimen  of  the  graphic  and 
condensed  style  with  which  Mr.  Clark  proceeds  in  this  kind  of  writing,  we 


OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

adduce  a  paragraph  or  two.  In  his  sketch  of  what  God  has  done  for  the 
Church,  he  says : 

"  Let  us  retrace,  for  a  moment,  a  few  pages  of  her  history,  and  we  shall 
see  that  when  the  Church  was  low,  he  raised  her ;  when  she  was  in  danger, 
he  saved  her.  Amid  all  the  moral  desolations  of  the  old  world,  the  Church 
never  became  extinct.  And  he  at  length  held  the  winds  in  his  fist,  and 
barred  the  fountains  of  the  deep,  till  Noah  could  build  the  ark,  and  the 
Church  could  be  housed  from  the  storm.  How  wonderful  were  his  inter- 
positions, when  the  Church  was  embodied  in  the  family  of  Abraham!  In 
redeeming  her  from  Egyptian  bondage,  how  did  he  open  upon  that  guilty 
land  all  the  embrasures  of  heaven,  till  they  thrust  out  his  people !  And 
he  conducted  them  to  Canaan  by  the  same  masterly  hand.  The  sea 
divided,  and  Jordan  rolled  back  its  waters ;  the  rock  became  a  pool,  and  the 
heavens  rained  them  bread,  till  they  drank  at  the  fountains  and  ate  of  the 

fruits  of  the  land  of  promise When  the  Church  diminished, 

and  her  prospects  clouded  over,  he  raised  up  reformers.  Such  were  Sam- 
uel, and  David,  and  Hezekiah,  and  Josiah,  and  Daniel,  and  Ezra,  and  Nehe- 
miah  :  such  were  all  the  prophets.  Each  in  his  turn  became  a  master 
builder,  and  the  temple  arose,  opposition  notwithstanding.  .  .  .  Again, 
under  the  apostles,  how  did  her  prospects  brighten  !  In  three  thousand 
hearts,  under  a  single  sermon,  commenced  the  process  of  sanctification. 
The  very  cross  proved  an  engine  to  erect  her  pillars ;  the  flames  lighted 
her  apartments,  and  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  cemented  the  walls  of  her 
temple,  and  contributed  to  its  strength  and  beauty.  Every  dying  groan 
alarmed  the  prince  of  hell,  and  shook  the  pillars  of  his  dreary  domain." 
Vol.  I.  pp.  44,  45. 

We  set  down  "  The  Church  Safe"  as,  on  the  whole,  the  most  admirable 
production  of  its  author.  Few  sermons  have  made  a  stronger  sensation  on 
their  publication.  It  was  extensively  sought  and  read,  and  contributed  not 
a  little  to  awaken,  the  benevolent  energies  of  the  Church,  to  the  enterprise 
before  her.  The  writer  vividly  remembers  the  evening  when  the  village, 
where  he  resided,  were  summoned  together  to  the  reading  of  this  sermon, 
by  a  young  man  who  had  brought  it  in  from  abroad.  It  is  no  small  achieve- 
ment to  have  prepared  and  put  forth  to  the  world  one  such  discourse. 

The  sermon,  entitled  "  The  Enemies  of  the  Church  made  to  promote  her 
Interests,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  7.,  is  another  fine  specimen  of  argumentation  from  facts. 
Here,  as  in  the  preceding,  they  are  marshalled  in  the  most  admirable  order. 
There  is  a  quick  and  strong  movement ;  at  once  rhetorical  beauty  and  flow, 
and  argumentative  clenching.  The  sermon  is  a  good  example  of  a  discourse, 
in  which  unpalatable  truths  are  set  forth  and  firmly  established  by  the  sim- 
ple force  of  facts.  The  facts  are  so  employed  as  to  hedge  up  the  hearer  to 
the  conclusion  he  hates  to  come  to.  The  obnoxious  point  is  God's  sove- 
reignty in  the  use  and  disposal,  the  award  and  punishment  of  his  rebellious 
creatures, — a  point  kindred  with  that  which  our  Savior,  in  a  similar  way, 
fixed  incontrovertibly  upon  his  hearers,  in  the  village  where  he  had  been 


Xl  BIOGRAPHY 

brought  up.  It  is  an  example  worthy  of  imitation,  whenever  we  are  to 
propound  truths  in  the  face  of  strong  prejudices  and  passions ;  let  the 
preacher  keep  to  the  ground  of  God's  simple  sayings,  and  the  admitted  facts 
of  his  Providence,  and  the  deep  unsilenced  monitions  of  conscience,  and  if 
he  does  not  produce  conviction  and  belief  of  the  truth,  he  will  do  some- 
thing toward  checking  cavils  and  silencing  objections. 

Mr.  Clark  bears  some  resemblance  to  President  Edwards  in  his  manner 
of  reasoning  and  discussion.  Neither  of  them  falls  into  the  gratuitous  blun- 
der of  attempting  to  shore  up  the  Divine  affirmation  of  a  doctrine,  by  their 
own  arguments.  The  doctrine  is  received  upon  the  Divine  testimony.  This 
perfectly  establishes  it.  The  main  object  of  the  argument  or  illustration  is 
indirectly  to  do  away  objections  and  prejudices,  and  directly  to  commend  the 
truth  to  the  hearer's  conscience;  to  make  it  real,  vivid,  convicting,  arous- 
ing to  the  sinner's  mind.  It  is  the  blindness  of  men  which  constitutes  the 
grand  barrier  to  the  progress  and  the  redeeming  results  of  truth.  If  the 
preacher  can  but  give  to  truth  breadth  and  body,  and  impart  reality  to  its 
disclosures,  men  wiL  see  it;  and  the  next  thing  with  many  will  be,  they  will 
feel  it;  finally,  the  Spirit  helping,  they  will  receive  it. 

The  reductio  ad  absurdum  is  a  form  of  argument,  in  which  our  author 
seems  to  be  much  at  home.  He  wields  it  now  and  then  with  terrible,  al- 
most annihilating  power.  In  connection  with  it,  there  occasionally  appears 
a  little  spice  of  satire;  and  a  disposition  to  confound  his  opponent  and  cover 
him  with  shame,  instead  of  satisfying  and  recovering  him  to  the  path  of 
truth.  In  some  instances,  he  runs,  in  the  first  place,  the  erroneous  position 
to  its  legitimate  results,  and  holds  up  the  glaring  absurdities  of  the  case,  and 
then  breaks  out  in  a  strain  of  the  most  vehement  reprobation  of  the  obnox- 
ious point.  For  example,  on  the  error  that  Christ  is  a  finite  created  being : 

"  He  indebted  to  another  for  his  own  existence,  but  we  must  trust  in  him 
for  eternal  life ;  he  our  shield,  and  still  he  has  no  power  of  his  own  to  pro- 
tect ;  he  our  guide,  but  another  must  enlighten  and  guide  him  ;  he  our  in- 
tercessor, and  still  he  cannot  know  when  we  pray If  there  is  a 

scheme,  which  rather  than  any  other,  charges  God  foolishly,  makes  the 
plainest  truth  a  mystery,  and  the  whole  Bible  a  bundle  of  absurdities,  and 
proudly  conducts  its  votaries  to  death,  it  is  that  which  thus  quenches  the 
light  of  Israel.  Must  I  choose  between  it  and  open  infidelity,  I  would  be 
an  infidel.  By  the  same  dash  with  which  I  blot  the  name  of  the  Redeemer, 
I  would  obliterate  the  Father,  and  believe  the  grave  the  end  of  me.  I  would 
not  waste  my  time  and  strength,  and  torture  my  conscience,  to  mutilate  the 
book  of  God ;  but  would  believe  the  whole  a  lie,  and  warm  myself  in  its 
blaze,  and  wish  I  were  a  brute.  Then  I  would  calmly  expect  one  day  to 
be  a  supper  for  the  worms,  free  from  dread  of  the  worm  that  shall  never 
die."  Vol.  I.,  p.  343, 

There  is  a  similar  strain  in  another  sermon,  in  which  the  same  low  views 
of  Christ  as  above  are  opposed.  Our  author  is  speaking  of  the  incalculable 
injury,  which  even  a  doubt  of  the  proper  Divinity  of  Christ  would  be  to  the 
believer : 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xli 

"  That  doubt  would  mar  their  creed ;  for  they  must  yield  other  doctrines, 
when  their  Redeemer  has  become  a  creature.  That  atonement,  which  he 
only  could  make ;  that  ruin  of  our  nature  which  he  only  can  repair ;  that 
ever-enduring  hell,  from  which  he  only  can  rescue  us  ;  that  Sabbath,  which 
his  rising  made;  that  Comforter,  whom  he  kindly  sent;  and  that  plenary 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  which  establishes  his  Divinity,  must  all  be 
plucked  from  their  creed,  and  it  would  stand  then,  like  a  pine,  lightning- 
smitten,  scorched  in  its  every  leaf,  and  rived  to  its  deepest  roots,  to  be  the 
haunt  of  the  owl  and  the  curse  of  the  forest.  When  you  shall  blast  my 
creed  like  this,  you  may  have,  for  a  farthing,  the  remnant  of  my  poor,  mu- 
tilated Bible,  and  1  will  sit  down  and  weep  life  away,  over  this  benighted 
world,  to  which  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever." — Vol.  I. 
p.  295. 

These  passages  are  exceedingly  powerful  and  striking;  they  were  writ- 
ten, unquestionably,  under  a  mighty  tide  of  emotion.  Mr.  Clark,  we  think, 
often  wrote  in  this  mood ;  and  in  the  rush  of  feeling  and  strength  of  ex- 
pression dictated  thereby,  now  and  then  there  would  escape  from  him  a 
sentiment,  very  nearly  transcending  the  bounds  of  truth  and  propriety.  We 
cannot  but  "doubt  the  correctness  and  wisdom  of  declaring  or  implying,  in 
any  connection,  that  absolute  infidelity  is  rather  to  be  chosen,  than  that 
form  of  Christianity,  which  denies  the  Divinity  of  its  author. 

The  style  of  Mr.  Clark  is  throughout  very  decisively  characterized  by 
strength.  It  is  manifest  that  he  aimed  chiefly  at  this ;  that  to  this  he  was 
willing  to  sacrifice  the  light  and  winning  graces  of  language.  In  his  pre- 
face, he  expresses  the  conviction,  "  that  writings  are  often  spoiled  by  too 
much  smoothing  and  polishing.  Hence  the  present  volumes  are  permitted 
lo  go  forth  with  those  occasional  roughnesses,  which,  it  is  hoped,  may  not 
give  offence,  but  simply  stir  up  thought  and  rouse  proper  feeling."  Mr. 
Clark's  prominent  faults  and  excellences,  both  in  language  and  spirit,  are 
to  be  traced  to  the  reaching  forth  of  a  fervid  and  powerful  mind  for  great 
strength  of  thought  and  diction.  There  is  uncommon  compactness  and 
condensation  in  our  author's  style.  There  are  but  few  words  which  can  be 
safely  blotted  out ;  nor,  by  recasting,  can  we  diminish  the  space  a  thought 
occupies.  There  is  a  very  sparing  use  of  epithets  and  qualifying  terms. 
The  principal  words  are  selected  with  so  much  precision  generally,  that  he 
succeeds  in  conveying  his  idea  without  the  aid  of  thronging  expletives  and 
adjuncts.  When  reading  him,  we  are  constrained  sometimes  to  pause  and 
admire  the  amount  and  pungent  force  of  meaning,  conveyed  by  some  single 
word,  or  brief  combination  of  words.  This  is  one  of  the  very  highest  ex- 
cellences of  style — every  word  fraught  with  meaning.  It  takes  some  a 
long  time  to  get  weaned  from  their  love  of  the  jingle  of  adjectives  and 
adjuncts,  though  assured,  from  every  quarter,  that  no  otlfer  single  thing 
does  more  to  encumber  and  enfeeble  the  style.  One  of  the  great  rhetorical 
sins  in  preaching,  it  seems  to  us,  is  overdoing— saying  too  much  on  the  to- 
pics introduced,  and  especially  taking  up  altogether  too  much  time  in  say- 
ing what  we  do  say. 
5* 


Xlii  BIOGRAPHY 

Mr.  Clark  has  not  only  strength — he  has  frequently  a  simple  elegance  and 
harmony.  This  harmony,  indeed,  is  very  common,  when  it  is  not  disturbed 
by  a  bold  and  startling  harshness.  The  following  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
often  easy  and  musical  flow  of  the  sentences.  "  Individuals  may  prosper 
most  when  they  are  nearest  destruction.  The  old  world  and  the  devoted 
cities  were  never  more  prosperous,  than  when  their  last  sun  was  rising. 
Men  may  be  ripe  for  the  scythe  of  death,  their  cup  of  iniquity  full,  while 
yet  their  fields  wave  with  the  abundant  harvests,  and  the  atmosphere  is 
fragrant  with  the  odors  of  the  ripened  fruits  and  flowers,  and  echoes  with 
the  song  of  the  cheerful  laborers." 

Another  attribute  for  which  Mr.  C.'s  style  is  remarkable  is  vivacity. 
There  is  nothing  about  it  dry,  abstract,  dead.  Every  thing  is  living,  mov- 
ing. He  is  almost  constantly  giving  us  vivid  pictures.  He  shows  great 
skill  in  gathering  and  grouping  the  interesting  circumstances  of  a  scene  or 
case.  It  is  this  skilful  touching  of  some  characteristic  circumstance,  which 
brings  before  the  mind  the  picture  of  a  whole  scene :  "  How  many,  once  as 
rich  as  you,  are  now  poor ;  or  as  healthy  as  you,  are  now  in  the  grave ; 
had  a  home  as  you  have,  but  it  burned  down ;  had  children,  as,  it  may  be, 
you  have,  but  the  cold  blast  came  over  them  and  they  died.  And  was  it 
not  kindness  in  God,  that  saved  you  what  you  have  ?"  Another  example  : 
"  Where  had  we  been  if  the  hand  of  God  had  not  been  under  us  ?  To  what 
world  had  we  fled,  when  some  friend  was  dosing  our  eyes?  How  employed 
on  the  day  of  our  funeral  solemnities  ?"  Once  more :  "  Were  Christ  to 
come  again,  and  put  himself  in  the  power  of  sinners,  would  not  many  of 
our  communicants  leave  the  sacrament,  and  go  away  to  crucify  him  ?"  It 
is  very  obvious  that  nearly  all  the  peculiar  freshness  and  force  of  these  pas- 
sages, is  owing  to  the  striking  pictures  brought  before  us.  Mr.  Clark's 
writings  abound  in  examples  of  what  Campbell  calls  "  speciality  "  in  the 
use  of  terms ;  that  is,  the  seizing  upon  those  which  are  particular  and  de- 
terminate, which,  of  course,  present  a  more  vivid  image.  He  was  more 
remarkably  characterized  by  the  use  of  this  figure,,  if  it  may  be  called  a 
figure,  than  any  preacher  of  our  acquaintance.  We  perceive  it  in  every 
paragraph,  almost  in  every  sentence.  Everywhere  we  are  met  with  the 
specific  stroke.  Hence,  common  things  are  said  in  a  way  to  be  very  strik- 
ing. For  instance,  "  The  cause  of  intemperance  moved  on  briskly,  till  it 
was  discovered  that  the  Church  held  in  her  fellowship  those  who  would 
drink  of  the  cup  of  devils,  but  was  stayed  in  its  march  till  she  had  time  to 
entomb  her  inebriates"  In  another  somewhat  rough  extract,  " If  the  arti- 
cle must  be  sold,  for  the  use,  and  ruin,  and  utter  damnation  of  men,  I  would 
place  at  the  tap  the  same  lying  serpent  that  handed  Eve  the  apple,  that  it 
might  appear  the  very  infernal  commerce  that  it  is." 

To  speak  of  a  property  kindred  with  the  above,  we  may  add,  that  Mr. 
Clark's  style  istenlivened  and  strengthened  with  a  great  deal  of  rapid  and 
bold  metaphor.  It  is  everywhere  a  leading  characteristic.  He  speaks  of 
"  reining  in  the  passions ;"  of  "  cradling  the  corrupt  passions ;"  of  "  feeding 
the  appetite;"  "  blunting  the  reason ;"  "  killing  the  keenness  of  conscience ;" 
of  "  hewing  down  men  in  the  prime  of  life ;"  of  "  being  harnessed  for  the 


OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

Divine   service  ;"    of  "  digging-  after   comforts ;"  of  "  fencing    the    truth 
from  the  sinner's  dying  pillow;"    of   "wading  to  the  grave  in  tears." 

We  find  in  our  author  none  of  the  extended,  overwrought  figure  which 
we  so  often  find  in  President  Davies'  Sermons.  Clark  frequently  does 
in  a  line,  when  the  imagination  is  addressed,  what  Davies  employed  a 
page  in  doing.  Perhaps  the  former  was  too  quick  and  glancing  in  his 
strokes  of  this  sort ;  certainly  the  latter  did  more  execution  on  the  popular 
mind;  the  former  has  this  praise,  that  he  is  more  Demosthenean.  Mr. 
Clark  often  uses  Scripture  facts  metaphorically,  and  with  good  effect. 
"  Paul  had  gone  to  lay  waste  that  very  Church,  which,  a  few  days  after, 
it  was  his  honor  and  joy  to  edify.  The  devourer  was  caught  with  the 
prey  in  his  teeth  and  made  a  lamb."  Again,  "  The  gospel  may  produce 
wrath  and  still  be  a  savor  of  life.  The  tenant  of  the  tombs  raved,  and 
then  believed."  The  writer  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  an  instance  of 
this  sort  in  hearing  him  some  eighteen  years  since.  The  simple  stroke  did 
in  his  mind  the  work  of  a  dozen  sermons.  Mr.  Clark  was  addressing  Chris- 
tians at  the  Lord's  table.  The  sentiment  was  in  substance  this :  *  Perhaps 
some  are  in  a  luminous,  happy  frame,  and  in  it  they  feel  confident  that  they 
shall  no  more  betray  the  interests  of  Jesus,  as  they  have  done.  Beware  of 
this  confidence,  Peter  thought  just  so  once;  yet  he  went  directly  down  from 
the  scenes  of  Tabor,  and  swore  that  he  never  knew  him.' 

It  may  be  remarked  in  this  connection,  that  our  author  generally  derives 
his  figures  and  illustrations  from  obvious  and  common  sources.  There  is  no 
going  out  of  the  way  for  pretty,  and  fragrant,  and  sunny  things.  There  are 
no  singing  birds,  nor  silvery  lakes,  nor  glistening  dew-drops  to  charm  us ; 
"  nothing  here  of  the  fringes  of  the  north-star  ;  nothing  of  nature's  becom- 
ing unnatural ;  nothing  of  the  down  ofangeVs  wings,  or  the  beautiful  locks 
of  cherubims ;  no  starched  similitudes,  introduced  with  a  "  thus  have  I  seen 
.a  cloud  rolling  in  the  airy  mansion,"  and  the  like.  Such  things  are  not  fit 
for  the  pulpit ;  they  seem  profane  in  so  sacred  a  place.  They  certainly  have 
no  power  there.  The  truly  drastic  men  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
They  are  not  afraid  nor  ashamed  to  lay  hands  on  familiar  objects.  These 
are  understood,  they  are  felt  by  the  hearer.  "  I  will  wipe  Jerusalem  as  a 
man  wipeth  a  dish,  wiping  it  and  turning  it  upside  down."  What  can  ex- 
ceed this  in  strength  and  impressiveness  ?  The  Bible  is  full  of  the  most 
cogent  figures ;  cogent  from  the  commonness  of  the  objects.  In  this  way 
Mr.  Clark  attained  to  a  startling  power  in  many  of  his  illustrations.  "  The 
truth  exhibits  impenitent  men  as  playing  the  fool  with  their  own  best  inter- 
ests. A  madman  who  in  a  paroxysm  of  his  disease,  has  butchered  his  family, 
and  half  despatched  himself,  and  has  waked  to  consciousness  in  the  very 
act  of  suicide,  is  scarcely  a  sorer  picture  of  wretchedness  and  ruin,  than  the 
sinner  upon  whose  conscience  there  has  been  suddenly  poured  the  light  of% 
truth."  Speaking  of  the  fact,  that  the  wicked  are  occasionally  strangely 
spared,  while  the  righteous  are  cut  down,  he  says:  "the  basest  of  human 
beings  have  sometimes  measured  out  a  hundred  years,  have  attended  the 
funeral  of  every  pious  contemporary,  and  have  even  blown  the  trumpet  of 
revolt  in  three  centuries."  On  the  passage,  "  Christ  gave  himself  for  us," 


BIOGRAPHY 

&c.,  he  says :  "  How  easily  could  he  have  blighted  all  our  hopes  in  that 
dark  hour.  Had  he  sent  Judas  to  his  own  place,  or  rendered  him  an  honest 
man  when  he  came  to  steal  the  betraying  kiss ;  or  had  he  struck  lifeless 
that  midnight  band  which  came  to  apprehend  him ;  or  had  he  let  down  into 
hell  that  senate  chamber  with  its  mass  of  hypocrisy,  and  paralyzed  the 
sinews  of  the  soldiery  that  crucified  him ;  then  had  there  been  none  to 
betray,  arrest,  or  murder  the  Son  of  God." 

When  speaking  of  the  sinner's  perdition,  our  author  sets  it  forth  com- 
monly in  the  most  terrific  imagery  of  the  Bible.  Had  there  been  a  little 
more  of  the  mild,  the  gentle,  the  winning,  had  there  been  a  less  frequent 
appeal  to  the  terrible  motives  of  truth,  more  of  the  imbuing  of  that  love 
which  bled  on  Calvary,  Mr.  Clark  would  have  stood  as  a  preacher,  pre-emi- 
nent and  complete.  But  we  may  not  leave  what  we  have  to  say  upon  the  gen- 
eral strain  and  spirit  of  these  sermons  without  adding,  that,  with  all  his 
sternness,  and  hard,  unbending  fidelity,  Mr.  Clark  has  the  power  of  the  pa- 
thetic to  a  very  considerable  degree.  This  power  grows  out  of  another  we 
have  ascribed  to  him,  namely,  the  power  of  moral  painting.  Some  parts 
of  the  "  Church  Safe"  are  fine  specimens  of  the  pathetic.  The  entire  ser- 
mon, entitled :  "  The  industrious  young  Prophets,"  is  throughout  graphic 
and  tender,  and  must  have  strongly  and  deeply  moved  the  feelings  of  the 
auditors.  Speaking  of  Christians  who  have  gone  from  abounding  privileg- 
es, and  are  now  living  far  away  in  regions  of  moral  desolation,  he  says : 

"  They  cannot  educate  for  themselves  a  ministry,  and  build  in  the  wil- 
derness the  unnumbered  conveniences  they  left  behind.  They  have  turned 
their  eyes  to  us,  and  if  we  refuse  them  help,  we  cover  them  with  unmingled 

despair The  mother  who  had  devoted  her  children  to  God,  and  has 

gone  with  them  into  the  western  wilds,  must  die  crushed  with  the  tremen- 
dous thought,  that  she  became  a  mother  merely  that  she  might  people  the 
realms  of  death.  Already  she  has  hung  her  harp  upon  the  willows,  and 
there  it  must  hang,  till  some  kind  missionary  enter  the  door  of  her  cabin, 
and  wipes  away  her  tears ;  and  this  missionary  we  must  educate.  Ten 
long  years  must  still  roll  away  before  he  arrives,  and  she,  in  the  mean  time, 
bleached  by  the  frosts  of  age,  trembles  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  but  dares 
not  die,  till  her  hopes  are  accomplished  and  her  children  saved."  Vol.  I., 
p.  403. 

On  the  whole,  we  must  be  permitted  to  affirm  the  opinion,  that  Mr.  Clark 
deserves  to  hold  a  very  high  rank,  as  a  preparer  of  sermons.  With  some 
peculiar  faults,  he  possessed  rare  and  substantial  merits.  He  was  not  an 
imitator ;  there  appears  nowhere  upon  him  the  marks  of  any  other  man's 
^  stamp.  As  a  student  .of  Dr.  Griffin,  he  was  probably  incited  and  influenced 
by  that  gigantic  model.  Yet  his  style  is  not  Griffin's,  nor  does  it  bear  any 
resemblance,  except  in  a  bold,  rough,  independent  power.  Every  thing  our 
author  said  came  forth  with  his  own  characteristic  impress. 

Having  now  examined  the  instruments  our  author  employed,  their  mate- 
rial and  their  structure,  it  seems  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  our  esti- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xlv 

mate,  that  we  look  at  our  author's  style  of  wielding  the  instrument ;  in  other 
words,  that  we  view  him  as  a  preacher  of  his  sermons.  His  smiting  was 
generally  with  a  blade  which  he  had  previously  fabricated  and  furbished, 
though  he  could  make  a  good  one  at  the  time  when  it  was  necessary ;  in 
other  words,  he  ordinarily  preached  on  the  Sabbath,  sermons  which  had 
been  written  carefully  and  in  full. 

We  wish  to  say  distinctly,  that  these  sermons  were  delivered  in  a  way 
to  give  them  their  strongest  effect.  Mr.  Clark  did  not  read  them,  he 
preached  them.  He  took  the  matter  not  from  his  memory;  he  took  it  from 
nis  paper,  and  preached  it :  and  it  was  as  really  a  specimen  of  preaching, 
and  good  preaching,  as  any  improviser  can  give. 

Mr.  Clark  admirably  vindicated  manuscript  preaching ;  he  showed  that 
it  need  not  be  dull  preaching,  that  it  may  be  warm  and  stirring  to  the  high- 
est degree.  Most  will  concede  that  Mr.  Clark  is  sufficiently  pungent 
and  heated.  We  love  to  meet  with  new  instances  of  stirring  power 
in  the  use  of  the  pen.  We  are  grateful  to  our  author  for  these  warm- 
hearted specimens.  We  deprecate  the  coming  of  a  time,  when  ministers 
shall  lay  aside  the  pen  in  their  pulpit  preparations.  With  it  they  would 
lay  aside  one  half  of  their  power.  There  will  then  be  an  end  to  extempo- 
raneous preaching  of  the  highest  order.  We  very  much  doubt,  whether 
there  ever  was  or  ever  will  be  a  first  rate  extemporaneous  speaker,  who 
was  not,  at  the  same  time,  a  good  writer.  The  discipline  of  the  writing  is 
necessary  to  impart  order  and  richness  to  the  speaking.  Let  all  writing  be 
done  with,  and  the  extemporaneous  product  grows  diffuse  and  comparative- 
ly empty.  The  man,  who  writes  in  part  vigorously  and  well,  will  proceed 
with  closeness  and  order  in  the  sermons  he  does  not  write.  He  may  make 
his  written  sermons  warm,  searching,  effective ;  and  the  unwritten  will  catch 
from  the  written  a  thorough  imbuing  and  seasoning  of  the  same  sterling 
qualities. 

Mr.  Clark  was  an  arresting  preacher,  with  all  the  alleged  disadvantages 
of  his  paper  before  him.  He  had  a  remarkable  power  of  seizing  and  hold- 
ing the  attention.  If  he  did  not  awaken  spiritually  the  auditor,  he  kept  him 
awake  physically.  From  what  we  have  said  of  his  style,  it  would  be  infer- 
red that  the  house  in  which  he  preached  would  not  be  much  infested  with 
sleepy  hearers.  They  might  disbelieve  the  preacher,  they  might  execrate 
his  sentiments.  They  could  not  but  hear  them  if  in  the  house.  He  must 
have  been  doubly  stupid,  who,  by  any  opiate  or  any  magnetism,  could  get  to 
sleep  under  some  of  the  discourses  and  parts  of  discourses  which  proceed- 
ed from  our  author.  Whoever,  at  such  a  time,  might  attempt  to  sink  into 
repose,  would  not  proceed  far,  before  some  crashing  thunderbolt  would  com- 
pel him  to  open  his  eyes,  and  see  what  was  happening.  The  roughness 
and  ragged  points  of  Mr.  Clark's  style  were  admirably  adapted  to  keep  the 
mind  well  spurred  and  jogged.  Sometimes  a  sentence  or  paragraph  would 
come  suddenly  like  a  great  rasp  across  the  audience.  A  sermon  may  be  ad- 
justed, and  harmonized,  and  polished  into  perfect  lameness  and  insipidity ;  the 
whole  moves  off,  in  a  gentle,  uniform,  mellifluous  flow,  which  reaches  and 


BIOGRAPHY 

stirs  nobody,  and  which  nobody  cares  for.  "  The  words  of  the  wise  are  as 
goads."  Such  should  be  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the  words  of  the  preacher. 

Mr.  Clark's  person,  voice,  and  entire  manner  were  in  perfect  keeping  with 
his  style;— a  large  masculine  frame ;  a  voice  harsh,  strong,  capable  of  great 
volume,  though  not  very  flexible ;  an  action,  for  the  most  part,  ungraceful, 
but  significant  and  natural ;  a  countenace  bearing  bold,  strongly  marked  fea- 
tures, at  every  opening  of  which  the  waked  and  working  passions  would 
look  intensely  out ;  then,  thoughts  and  sentences  such  as  we  find  in  these 
volumes  coming  forth  ; — all  together  gave  the  idea  of  huge,  gigantic  power. 
We  were  reminded  often  of  some  great  ordnance,  throwing  terribly  its  heavy 
shots.  Who  could,  who  dared  go  into  unconsciousness  before  such  an  engine  ? 

Mr.  Clark  had  an  unusual  power  of  impressing  the  memory.  Perhaps  in 
nothing  do  preachers  differ  more  than  in  this.  We  hear  one  deliver  a  ser- 
mon, and  are  very  well  pleased  with  it.  It  is  made  up  of  substantial  and 
important  matter.  We  endeavor  at  the  time  to  give  earnest  heed  to  the 
things  which  we  hear,  lest  we  should  let  them  slip.  But  somehow,  do  all 
we  can,  they  will  slip;  soon  the  whole  is  utterly  gone,  and  all  that  we  can 
say  about  it  is,  that  at  such  a  time,  we  heard  such  a  minister  preach  a  ser- 
mon. We  hear  another ;  we  give  no  closer  attention ;  we  are  in  no  better 
mood.  But  the  sermon  inheres;  parts  of  it, at  least,  are  lodged  within  us 
too  deeply  and  firmly  to  be  thrown  out  by  the  rudest  jostlings  of  amusement 
or  business.  Mr.  Clark  had  this  prime  excellence  of  preaching,  to  an  unusu- 
al degree.  Those  who  listened  to  his  preaching,  a  score  of  years  back,  find 
that  they  can  remember  a  great  deal  that  he  said.  They  retain,  doubtless, 
clear  conceptions  of  entire  discourses,  which  on  their  delivery  ploughed 
deeply  into  their  minds.  The  power  of  condensed,  graphic  enunciation,  by 
which  light,  strength  and  beauty  were  combined  and  concentrated,  in  part 
enabled  Mr.  Clark  to  sink  these  fixtures  in  the  memory.  The  power  of 
moral  painting,  also  of  graphic  presentation,  which  has  been  referred  to,  did 
much  to  give  the  adhesiveness  in  question.  The  truth,  which  we  are  made 
to  see,  we  cannot  forget,  as  we  do  the  truth  we  only  hear.  The  value  of 
this  power  upon  the  memory  in  a  preacher  is  not  soon  estimated.  It  helps 
him  to  insert  the  good  seed  beneath  the  surface,  where  the  birds  will  not 
eat  it  up,  nor  the  winds  blow  it  away.  Truth  so  inserted  will  often  rise  up 
and  be  thought  of;  conscience  will  reiterate  the  sermon  in  far  future  years. 
The  Spirit  may  give  it  power ;  so  that  it  shall  result  in  the  conversion  of  the 
soul,  after  the  voice,  that  originally  preached  it,  shall  be  still  in  death. 

Mr.  Clark  frequently  exhibited  in  his  preaching  the  ability  to  make  very 
strong  religious  impressions.  His  sermons  were  not  in  the  strict  sense  re- 
vival sermons.  They  were  never  vaguely,  loosely  declamatory.  There 
were  no  tricks  of  eloquence,  no  play  upon  the  passions.  There  was,  per- 
haps, too  much  sentiment,  too  much  solid,  searching  truth  in  them  for  the 
greatest  immediate  movement  and  effect.  His  were  not  the  right  sort  of 
loading  and  aim  to  do  the  most  execution  in  a  flock.  His  preaching  was 
adapted  rather  to  impress  deeply  a  few  minds  than  more  slightly  many 
minds.  He  did  not  operate  upon  the  surface  ;  he  struck  heavy  and  shook 
the  very  foundations  of  the  character. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

It  is  sometimes  said  of  a  preacher  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  Christ  in 
his  sermons.  This  is  deemed,  and  it  is,  a  high  commendation.  It  was  a 
commendatory  trait  in  Mr.  Clark's  preaching,  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
God  in  it.  We  think,  as  we  have  said,  that  his  exhibition  of  the  Divine 
character,  at  times,  was  not  sufficiently  mitigated.  Still  there  is  often  placed 
before  us,  God,  the  great  Sovereign  and  Agent,  the  subduer  or  the  punisher  of 
his  foes,  the  unfailing  protector  of  his  people  and  his  cause.  God  in  his  aw- 
ful glory  and  purity,  man  in  the  moral  baseness  of  his  character, — in  the 
black  and  stormy  elements  of  his  depravity, — were  placed  clearly  and  terri- 
bly side  by  side.  The  effect  produced  was,  in  some  instances,  awful  and 
overwhelming.  Mr.  Clark's  preaching  searched  and  incited  the  true 
disciple,  pressing  him  up  to  a  higher  standard;  it  agitated  and  cut  down 
the  sinner,  convincing  him  that  there  was  no  help  in  himself;  it  stripped 
and  laid  bare  the  hypocrite,  bringing  to  his  own  view  his  own  ugliness.  Many 
of  all  classes,  we  doubt  not,  were  persuaded  by  him  to  flee  for  refuge  to  lay 
hold  upon  the  hope  set  before  them,  some  of  whom  are  now  amid  the 
conflicts  of  time,  others  amid  the  glories  of  eternity. 

Subordinate  to  the  spiritual  results,  and  quite  inferior  in  worth,  yet  highly 
valuable,  was  another  effect  of  Mr.  Clark's  preaching.  It  wrought  power- 
fully upon  the  intellect.  It  waked  up  the  mind  and  set  it  to  work.  It  was 
bracing ;  it  made  the  hearer  feel  stronger  than  he  felt  before ;  he  went  out 
ready  for  achievement.  We  happen  to  be  acquainted  with  those  who 
acknowledge  an  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Clark,  in  this  respect,  beyond  what 
they  owe  to  any  other  living  mind  they  ever  came  in  contact  with.  They 
met  him  in  their  vernal  and  forming  period.  He  interested  them,  he  seized 
them,  and  bore  them  forward  in  a  quickened  and  more  robust  growth,  it 
is  always,  in  some  respects,  an  original  and  ascendent  mind,  that  thus 
stimulates,  and  moulds,  and  makes  stronger  other  minds. 

Mr.  Clark's  printed  sermons  have  much  of  the  same  power.  It  was  the 
significant  query  of  Fox,  respecting  a  noted  speech,  "  Does  it  read  well  ? 
Depend  upon  it,  it  was  not  a  good  speech,  if  it  does  not  read  well."  Mr. 
Clark's  sermons  bear  this  test.  Very  many  books  of  sermons  have  failed 
to  bear  this  test,  and  in  consequence  have  gone  speedily  to  oblivion.  In- 
deed, the  fame  of  the  preacher  is  very  apt  to  be  diminished,  if  not  destroyed, 
by  the  service  of  the  printer.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  plain,  sensible 
people  to  have  their  swelling  admiration  of  some  corruscating  preacher, 
whose  name  and  glory  have  come  awfully  towering  to  their  conceptions, 
nearly  withered  and  swept  away  by  the  unfortunate  occurrence  of  their 
lighting  upon  a  printed  volume  of  his  sermons.  We  fear  no  such  result  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Clark.  Indeed,  he  has  passed  this  ordeal  in  safety.  He 
has  found  many  admiring  readers  of  his  sermons:  persons  of  education,  of 
good  sense,  of  deep  piety,  have  read  and  re-read  with  interest  and  profit. 
Others  still  will  love  to  recur  to  them,  and  will  feel  that  they  are  benefited 
by  the  perusal. 

These  sermons  will  do  good  to  the  Christian  in  the  closet,  and  to  others, 
if  they  will  read  them.  "  No  one,  I  presume,"  says  a  discriminating  writer, 
remarking  upon  Mr.  Clark,  "  whose  conscience  has  ever  been  probed  by  his 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

searching  appeals,  or  whose  heart  has  ever  been  warmed  by  his  fervid  and 
glowing  piety,  or  whose  spirit  has  ever  been  overwhelmed  by  his  melting 
eloquence,  or  whose  sense  of  duty  has  ever  been  quickened  by  his  forcible 
and  practical  illustrations,  but  must  rejoice  in  the  privilege  of  reading  at 
his  leisure,  and  praying  over  in  secret,  such  productions  of  such  a  man." 

They  will  do  good  in  the  family.  We  like  the  suggestion,  made  by  the  au- 
thor in  the  preface  to  a  previous  edition,  "  That  the  parent,  or  some  one  se- 
lected by  him,  read  aloud  for  the  benefit  of  the  family,  after  preparing  himself' 
to  read  with  due  emphasis  and  feeling."*  Have  we  not  erred  in  laying  aside 
the  custom,  so  much  practised  by  our  fathers,  of  reading  a  sermon  at  stated 
seasons  in  the  family  ?  There  are  many  living  witnesses  to  its  spiritual 
and  eternal  benefit.  Children  and  domestics  have  received  truths  and  im- 
pressions which  they  never  could  rid  themselves  of,  but  which  became  the 
power  of  God  to  their  salvation.  Our  fathers  honored  sermons — their  de- 
scendants are  getting  to  despise  them.  It  is  not  well  to  do  so.  Admit 
these  sermons  to  the  family  circle,  and  there  allow  them  to  preach  to  the 
conscience  and  the  heart,  and  they  will  assuredly  do  good. 

They  will  do  good  also  in  the  conference  room,  and  in  the  Sabbath  con- 
gregation, where  there  is  no  minister  present.  Not  all  good  sermons  will 
answer  for  this  service.  Those  who  have  had  upon  themselves  the  respon- 
sibility of  these  occasions,  have  been  troubled  to  find  discourses  of  that 
strong,  graphic,  penetrating  character,  which  will  arrest  the  mind,  and  be 
effective  on  the  heart,  as  read  from  the  printed  page.  Mr.  Clark's  sermons 
have  been  tried  in  this  respect,  and  not  been  found  wanting.  Let  them  be 
tried  again,  and  they  will  not  disappoint  expectation. 

Finally,  these  sermons  are  fitted  to  exert  a  wholesome  influence  upon  the 
pulpit.  We  deem  them  good  sermons  for  preachers  to  have  intercourse  with. 
If  any  have  fallen  into  a  miserable,  mincing  way  of  writing  or  speaking,  let 
them  read  these  sermons.  If  any  have  come  so  under  the  dominion  of 
false  or  excessive  taste,  that  they  cannot  say  a  thing  out  clear,  straight,  and 
strong,  let  them  read  these  sermons.  If  they  are  affected  with  languor 
and  lameness,  as  they  stand  in  the  pulpit,  and  afflict  their  hearers  with  the 
same  oppressive  qualities,  let  them  read  these  sermons.  If  any  are  given 
to  exquisitely  fine  spinning,  or  extravagantly  high  soaring,  more  in  love 
with  the  sublimated  than  the  sublunary,  let  them  take  in  hand  these  coarser 
and  weightier  productions.  They  will  do  good  by  their  astringency  and 
impulsiveness.  They  will  help  to  make  closer,  warmer,  manlier  preaching. 
We  rejoice  that  the  productions  of  Mr.  Clark  are  now  put  forth  in  a  form 
so  convenient  and  neat ;  for  hereby,  we  believe,  an  important  service  is  ren- 
dered to  the  cause  of  truth  and  of  God. 


SERMONS 


SERMON    I. 
THE  CHURCH  SAFE. 

ISAIAH    XLIX.    16. 

I  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  my  hands ;  thy  walls  are  continually  before  me. 

THE  Jewish  Church,  during  her  captivity,  would  be  led  to  con- 
ceive that  God  had  forsaken,  had  forgotten  her.  To  effectually 
remove  this  impression,  God  by  his  prophet  appeals  to  one  of  the 
tenderest  relationships  of  life.  "  Can  a  woman  forget  her  sucking 
child,  that  she  should  not  have  compassion  on  the  son  of  her 
womb  1  yea  they  may  forget,  yet  will  I  not  forget  thee."  Thus 
would  he  giv.e  to  Zion,  assurance  of  his  unchangeable  love.  His 
people  should  multiply,  till  the  land,  where  their  foes  destroyed 
them,  should  be  too  limited  for  their  increased  population.  Kings 
and  nations  should  serve  them,  and  do  them  honor.  Zion  was 
dear  to  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye.  He  would  engrave  her  upon 
the  palms  of  his  hands  ;  her  walls  should  be  continually  before 
him. 

In  those  days,  it  was  the  custom  to  paint  upon  the  palms  of  the 
hands  such  objects  as  men  wish  to  remember,  in  allusion  to  which 
custom  God  assures  his  people,  that  he  had  graven  Zion  upon  the 
palms  of  his  hands.  Thus  should  her  walls  be  continually  before 
him ;  he  would  not  forget  her  a  moment,  nor  suffer  any  foe  to 
injure  her.  We  have  here  a  broad  and  sacred  pledge,  to  be  kept 
in  mind  by  the  people  of  God  in  all  ages,  and  plead  in  their  pray- 
ers, that  he  will  foster  and  bless  his  Church,  and  will  employ  his 
vigilance  and  his  power  to  secure  her  safety,  and  advance  her 
honors. 

6 


4"2  THE    CHURCH    SAFE. 

Thus  is  the  Church  safe,  and  the  people  of  God  need  have  no 
apprehensions,  nor  weep  a  tear,  but  over  their  own  transgressions, 
and  the  miseries  of  that  multitude,  who  will  not  be  persuaded  to 
take  sanctuary  in  her  bosom.  I  shall  argue  the  safety  of  the 
church,  from  the  firmness  and  stability  of  the  divine  operations  ; 
from  what  God  has  already  done  for  his  Church  ;  what  he  is  now 
doing  ;  and  what  he  has  promised  to  do. 

I.  We  assure  ourselves,  that  the  Church  is  safe,  from  the  firmness 
and  stability  of  the  divine  operations.  I  now  refer,  not  merely  to 
the  unchangeableness  of  God,  which  will  lead  him  to  pursue  for 
ever  that  plan  which  his  infinite  wisdom  devised ;  for  that  plan 
lies  concealed  from  us  ;  but  to  that  uniform  and  steady  course  with 
which  he  has  pursued  every  enterprise  which  his  hands  have  be- 
gun. That  he  is  of  the  same  mind,  and  that  none  can  turn  him, 
is  a  thought  full  of  comfort ;  but  that  he  has  finished  every  work 
which  he  took  in  hand  is  a  fact,  which  intelligences  have  witness- 
ed, and  one  on  which  we  may  found  our  richest  expectations. 

The  worlds  which  he  began  to  build  he  finished.  Not  one  was 
left  half  formed  and  motionless.  Each  he  placed  in  its  orbit,  gave 
it  light,  and  laws,  and  impulse.  And  ever  since  this  first  develop- 
ment of  the  divine  stability,  the  wheels  of  providence  have  rolled 
on  with  steady  and  settled  course.  What  Omnipotence  began, 
whether  to  create  or  to  destroy,  he  rested  not  till  he  had  accom- 
plished. 

When  he  had  become  incensed  with  our  world,  and  purposed  its 
desolation,  with  what  a  firm  and  steady  step  did  he  go  on  to 
achieve  his  purpose.  Noah  builds  the  ark,  and  God  prepares  the 
fountains,  which,  at  his  word,  burst  from  their  entrenchments  to 
drown  an  impious  generation. 

How  have  suns  kept  their  stations,  and  planets  rolled  in  their 
orbits,  by  the  steady  pressure  of  the  hand  of  God  ;  by  their  re- 
volutions measuring  out  the  years  of  their  own  duration,  and  by 
their  velocity  urging  on  the  amazing  moment  when  they  shall 
meet  in  dread  concussion,  and  perish  in  the  contact.  How  fixed 
their  periods,  their  risings,  their  eclipses,  their  changes,  and  their 
transits.  And  while  they  roll,  how  uniform  is  the  return  of 
spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter.  How  certain  every  law  of 
matter,  gravitation,  attraction,  reflection,  &c.  The  very  comet, 
so  long  considered  lawless,  how  is  it  curbed  and  reined  in  its  ec- 
centric orbit,  and  never  yet  had  power  or  permission  to  burn  a  sin- 
gle world. 

How  sure  is  the  fulfilment  of  prophecv.     Ages  intervening  can 


THE    CHURCH    SAFE.  4-3 

not  shake  the  certainty  of  its  accomplishment.  Jesus  bleeds  on 
Calvary  four  thousand  years  subsequently  to  the  promise  which 
that  event  accomplishes.  Cyrus  is  named  in  the  page  of  prophe- 
cy more  than  two  hundred  years  before  his  birth,  and  at  the 
destined  moment  becomes  the  Lord's  shepherd,  collects  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  and  builds  Jerusalem.  The  Jews,  as 
prophets  three  thousand  years  ago  foretold,  are  yet  in  exile.  The 
weeping  prophet,  now  at  rest,  still  sees  the  family  he  loved  peeled 
and  scattered,  and  the  soil  that  drank  his  tears,  cursed  for  their 
sins  ;  and  confident  that  God  is  true,  waits  impatient  the  certain, 
but  distant  year  of  their  redemption. 

Wretches  that  dare  his  power,  God  will  not  disturb  his  plan  to 
punish.  The  old  world  nourished  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
after  heaven  had  cursed  that  guilty  race.  Sodom  was  a  fertile 
valley  long  after  the  cry  of  its  enormities  had  entered  into  the 
ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth.  The  Amorites  were  allowed  five 
hundred  years  td  fill  up  the  measure  of  their  iniquity  after  God 
had  pledged  their  land  to  Abram,  although  Israel  wore  away  the 
intervening  years  in  bondage.  Many  a  murderer  has  been  over- 
taken by  the  hand  of  justice,  half  a  century  past  the  time  of  the 
bloody  deed.  God  will  punish  all  the  workers  of  iniquity,  but  he 
waits  till  the  appointed  moment.  Like  the  monarch  of  the  forest, 
he  comes  upon  his  enemies,  conscious  of  his  strength,  with  steady 
but  dreadful  steps.  In  his  movements  there  is  neither  frenzy,  pas- 
sion, nor  haste.  While  his  judgments  linger,  his  enemies  ask, 
"  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming  1"  but  let  them  know,  that 
he  has  appeared,  and  discomfited  many  a  foe  ;  and  the  inference 
is  that  they  must  perish  too.  Whatever  God  begins,  he  finishes : 
no  unseen  embarrassment  can  turn  his  eye  from  his  original 
purpose. 

Now  the  argument  is,  that  as  God  has  begun  to  erect  a  Church, 
he  will  act  in  this  matter  as  in  all  others.  If  one  of  light  character, 
a  man  given  to  change,  had  laid  the  foundation  of  some  mansion, 
there  would  still  be  doubt  whether  it  would  ever  receive  its  top- 
stone.  But  suppose  his  character  exactly  the  reverse,  and  the 
moment  he  breaks  the  ground,  imagination  sees  the  mansion  finish- 
ed :  now  only  make  God  the  builder  and  the  argument  is  perfect. 
Whether  we  can  trace  his  footsteps  or  not,  he  moves  on  to  the 
accomplishment  of  his  purpose  with  undeviating  course.  Every 
event,  in  aspect  bright  or  dark,  promotes  the  ultimate  increase 
and  establishment  of  his  Church.  Or  shall  this  be  the  only  enter- 
prise  to  which  his  wisdom,  his  power,  or  his  grace,  is  inadequate  1 


44  THE    CHURCH    SAFE. 

In  this  solitary  instance  shall  he  begin  to  build  and  not  be  able  to 
finish  1  What  would  be  thought  of  him  in  hell,  if  the  mystical 
temple  should  never  receive  its  topstone  1  Its  fires  may  go  out,  the 
worm  may  die,  or  some  infernal  genius  bridge  the  gulf.  Heaven 
too  would  lose  all  confidence  in  its  King,  and  every  harp  be  silent 
Thu^  before  we  examine  the  history  of  the  Church,  or  read  the 
promises,  if  we  believe  that  God  ever  had  a  Church,  we  have  the 
strongest  possible  presumptive  evidence,  that  he  will  watch  her  in- 
terests, will  feed  the  fires  upon  her  altars,  will  bring  her  sons  from 
far,  and  her  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  will  never 
leave  her,  nor  forsake  her.  "  I  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms 
of  my  hands  j  thy  walls  are  continually  before  me." 

II.  Our  expectations  brighten  when  wre  see  what  God  has  done 
for  his  Church.  My  first  argument  went  to  show,  that  if  God  had 
only  laid  the  corner-stone  of  this  heavenly  building,  it  would  rise 
and  be  finished.  We  are  now  to  view  the  building  half  erected, 
and  from  what  has  been  done  argue  the  certainty  of  its  completion. 
The  Church  has  been  under  the  fostering  care  of  heaven  too  long 
to  be  abandoned  now. 

Let  us  retrace  for  a  moment  a  few  pages  of  her  history,  and  we 
shall  see  that  when  the  Church  was  low,  he  raised  her ;  when  she 
was  in  danger,  he  saved  her.  Amid  all  the  moral  desolations  of 
the  old  world,  the  Church  never  became  extinct.  And  he  at  length 
held  the  winds  in  his  fist,  and  barred  the  fountains  of  the  deep,  till 
Noah  could  build  the  ark,  and  the  Church  be  housed  from  the 
storm. 

How  wonderful  were  his  interpositions  when  the  Church  was 
embodied  in  the  family  of  Abraham !  In  redeeming  her  from 
Egyptian  bondage,  how  did  he  open  upon  that  guilty  land  all  the 
embrasures  of  heaven,  till  they  thrust  out  his  people.  And  he 
conducted  them  to  Canaan  by  the  same  masterly  hand.  The  sea 
divided,  and  Jordan  rolled  back  its  waters ;  the  rock  became  a 
pool,  and  the  heavens  rained  them  bread,  till  they  drank  at  the 
fountains,  and  ate  the  fruits  of  the  land  of  promise.  Their  gar- 
ments lasted  forty  years,  and  the  angel  Jehovah,  in  a  cloud  of  light, 
led  them  through  the  labyrinths  and  dangers  of  the  desert. 

When  the  Church  diminished,  and  her  prospects  clouded  over, 
he  raised  up  reformers.  Such  were  Samuel,  and  David,  and  Heze- 
kiah,  and  Josiah,  and  Daniel,  and  Ezra,  and  Nehemiah :  such  were 
all  the  prophets.  Each  in  his  turn  became  a  master-builder,  and 
the  temple  rose,  opposition  notwithstanding. 


THE    CHURCH    SAFE.  45 

Again,  under  the  apostles,  how  did  her  prospects  brighten.  In 
three  thousand  hearts,  under  a  single  sermon,  commenced  the  pro- 
cess of  sanctification.  The  very  cross  proved  an  engine  to  erect 
her  pillars;  the  flames  lighted  her  apartments,  and  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  cemented  the  walls  of  her  temple,  and  contributed  to  its 
strength  and  beauty.  Every  dying  groan  alarmed  the  prince  of 
hell,  and  shook  the  pillars  of  his  dreary  domain. 

But  the  Church  again  sunk,  and  hell  presumed  that  her  ruin 
would  be  soon  achieved,  when  the  sixteenth  century  lifted  upon 
her  the  dawn  of  hope.  In  Luther,  Calvin,  Melancthon,  and  Zuing- 
lius,  her  interests  found  able  advocates.  They  appeared  at  the 
very  juncture  when  the  sinking  Church  needed  their  courage  and 
their  prayers.  Like  some  mighty  constellation,  which  bursts  from 
the  east  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  they  rose  when  moral  darkness 
was  almost  total,  and  like  that  of  Egypt  could  seem  to  be  felt.  By 
their  aid  the  Church  emerged  from  the  wilderness.  By  their  cou- 
rage her  grand  enemy  was  made  to  tremble  on  his  ghostly  tribu- 
nal. The  power  of  the  Pope  had  then  outgrown  the  strength  of 
every  civil  arm.  Every  monarch  in  Europe  was  at  his  feet.  Till 
Luther  rose  no  power  could  cope  with  him.  There  was  a  true 
Church,  but  she  had  no  champion.  The  followers  of  Jesus  paid 
for  the  privilege  of  discipleship  with  their  blood.  He  who  dared 
to  be  guided  by  his  own  conscience,  committed  an  offence  that 
could  not  be  pardoned.  The  heavenly-minded  saw  no  relief  but 
in  death,  and  thirsted  for  the  honor  of  a  martyrdom  that  would  place 
them  in  a  world  where  conscience  might  be  free.  But  God  ap- 
peared and  redeemed  his  people.  The  theme  is  pleasant,  but  time 
would  fail  me  to  rehearse  what  God  has  done  for  his  Church. 
Every  age  has  recorded  the  interpositions  of  his  mercy ;  and  every 
land  where  there  is  a  remnant  of  his  Church,  bears  some  monu- 
ment that  tells  to  his  honor,  and  which  will  endure  till  the  funeral 
of  the  world. 

Now  the  argument  is,  that  he  who  has  done  so  much  for  his 
Church  will  never  abandon  her.  If  he  would  float  her  above  a 
drowning  world,  would  redeem  her  from  bondage,  would  escort 
her  through  the  desert,  would  rain  her  bread  from  heaven,  would 
reprove  kings  for  her  sake,  would  stop  the  sun  to  aid  her  victories ; 
with  his  smiles,  light  the  glooms  of  her  dungeon,  and  by  his  pre- 
sence cool  the  fires  of  the  stake,  there  can  be  no  fear  for  her  safety. 

God  will  do  just  such  things  for  Zion  as  he  has  done.  "  The 
thing  that  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be."  His  arm  is  not 
shortened,  nor  his  ear  heavy.  The  Church  was  never  nearer  his 


4.6  THE    CHURCH    SAFE. 

heart  than  now.  And  he  now  hates  her  enemies  as  really  as  he 
did  Pharaoh,  Sennacherib,  Nero,  or  Julian.  He  then  governed  the 
world  for  the  sake  of  his  Church  ;  and  for  her  sake  he  governs  it 
still.  "  The  Lord's  portion  is  his  people."  We  know  not  that 
he  ever  had  but  one  object  in  view  in  the  events  that  have  trans- 
pired in  our  world ;  and  that  one  the  honor  of  his  name  in  the  re- 
demption of  his  people  :  and  this  object  sways  his  heart  still.  The 
destruction  of  the  enemy  is  a  part  of  the  same  plan.  Still  may  the 
Church  invoke  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah,  may  rest  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  God  of  Bethel,  and  wrestle  with  the  Angel  of  Penuel. 
If  she  should  be  in  bondage  there  will  rise  another  Moses,  another 
cloud  will  conduct  her  out  of  Egypt,  and  the  same  heavens  will 
rain  her  manna.  If  darkness  should  overshadow  her,  there  will  be 
found  among  the  sons  she  hath  brought  up,  another  Luther,  Cal- 
vin, or  Knox,  to  take  her  by  the  hand,  to  protect  her  honors,  and 
recruit  her  strength.  Shame  on  the  Christian  who  knows  her  his- 
tory, and  yet  is  afraid.  Afraid  of  what  1  That  God  \vill  cease  to 
defend  the  apple  of  his  eyel  Afraid  that  the  city  graven  upon 
the  palms  of  his  hands  may  be  captured  and  destroyed  1  If  God 
continue  to  do  such  things  as  he  has  done,  the  Church  with  all  her 
retinue  is  safe.  "  God  is  known  in  her  palaces  for  a  refuge." 

III.  God  is  doing  now  just  such  things  as  he  has  done.  We  saw 
laid  the  corner  stone,  and  drew  thence  our  first  argument.  Then 
we  saw  the  building  half  erected,  and  were  furnished  with  a  second. 
We  are  now  to  view  the  edifice  covered  with  builders,  and  from 
their  exertions  derive  our  third.  We  may  now  reason  from  things 
that  our  eyes  can  see.  We  may  appeal  for  testimony  to  the  very 
saw  and  hammer,  and  make  the  scaffold  speak. 

It  may  be  that  some  of  my  readers  are  not  sensible  in  what  a 
day  of  heavenly  exploit  they  live.  Do  you  know  what  amazing 
events  are  transpiring  1  Have  you  learned  that  Bible  societies  are 
forming  in  every  part  of  Christendom  1  and  that  the  Scriptures  are 
now  read  in  perhaps  a  hundred  languages,  in  which,  till  lately,  not 
a  text  of  inspired  truth  was  ever  written  1  Do  you  know  that  the 
late  editions  of  God's  word  have  commenced  their  circulation,  are 
traversing  the  desert,  taming  the  savage,  and  pouring  celestial  light 
on  eyes  that  never  met  its  beams  before  1 

Do  you  know  the  prevalence  of  a  missionary  spirit  ?  Have 
you  learned  that  youth  of  the  first  character,  of  the  fairest  pros- 
pects, and  of  both  sexes,  aspire  to  be  missionaries  of  the  cross  1 
Some  have  gone,  and  others  wait  impatiently  till  your  charity  shall 


THE    CHUliCH    SAFE.  47 

send  them.  Many  a  mother  has  devoted  her  daughter  to  the  work, 
and  waits  for  opportunity  to  give  her  the  parting  kiss ;  and  many  a 
daughter,  on  whom  has  fallen  Harriet's  mantle,  aches  to  visit  her 
tomb,  and  rest  under  the  same  turf  till  Jesus  bids  them  rise.  And 
what  daughter  of  Zion  is  not  ambitious  of  a  martyrdom  like  hers  4 

How  numerous  and  extensive  the  revivals,  which  at  present  we 
witness  in  our  land  1  Even  where  there  is  no  stated  ministry,  the 
showers  of  grace  descend,  and  the  waste  places  are  made  fertile. 
What  other  page  of  the  Church's  history,  but  the  present,  could 
record  an  almost  universal  concert  of  prayer  1  Christians  of  every 
continent  employing  the  same  hour  in  the  same  supplications. 
How  unparalleled  the  success  of  every  Christian  enterprise  !  No 
plan  of  mercy  ever  fails.  The  active  Christian  is  amazed  at  the 
result  of  his  own  exertions. 

Much  that  God  is  now  doing  is  evidently  preparatory  to  future 
operations.  Bible  and  missionary  societies  may  be  viewed  as  the 
accumulated  energies  of  the  Church.  Hitherto  our  exertions 
have  been  insulated  and  feeble.  The  little  streams  fructified  the 
plains  through  which  they  flowed,  but  could  easily  be  dammed  or 
evaporated  ;  but  their  junction  has  formed  a  mighty  river,  destined 
to  penetrate  every  moral  desert,  and  carry  civilization  to  every 
province  of  our  desolated  world  :  fed  with  the  showers  of  heaven, 
and  every  day  flowing  on  with  deeper  arid  broader  channel,  the 
wilds  of  Arabia,  the  heaths  of  Africa,  and  the  plains  of  Siberia, 
can  oppose  no  effectual  barrier  to  its  influence. 

What  age  but  ours  was  ever  blessed  with  Theological  Semina- 
ries, where  might  be  reared  at  the  expense  of  charity,  young 
evangelists,  to  go  out  and  carry  the  bread  of  life  to  a  starving 
world  1  Fortunes,  collected  for  other  purposes,  are  poured  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  thus  are  erected  batteries  to  demo- 
lish the  strong-holds  of  the  prince  of  hell.  Jehovah  bless  their 
founders ! 

Churches  and  congregations,  who,  in  seasons  of  coldness, 
grudged  to  support  the  gospel  at  home,  are  now  equipping  young 
men  for  the  missionary  field,  and  for  their  own  edification.  And 
it  has  at  length  become  so  disreputable  to  stand  idle  in  these  mat- 
ters, that  the  man  who  would  save  his  money,  feels  himself  in 
danger  of  losing  his  chracter. 

Not  long  since,  young  men  of  piety  and  talents,  who  longed  to 
fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord,  must  equip  themselves,  and  then  find 
poor  support  in  service.  But  now  the  scale  is  turned.  Where 
there  is  no  fortune  but  piety,  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  a  talent 


48  THE    CHUECH    SAFE. 

to  improve,  the  way  is  now  open  to  all  the  honors  of  the  camp  of 
Israel.  The  pious  mother,  who  can  only  drop  her  two  mites  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  but  whose  example  and  whose  prayers 
have  saved  her  son,  may  bring  her  Samuel  to  the  altar,  to  be  fed 
from  its  offerings,  and  reared  to  all  the  honors  of  the  prophetic 
office.  While  I  am  yet  writing,  hope  springs  up,  and  a  joy 
not  felt  in  ages  past,  thrills  through  all  the  habitations  of  pious 
poverty. 

The  late  revivals  possess  one  peculiar  characteristic.  There 
have  been  among  their  fruits  an  unusual  number  of  males.  When 
there  was  little  else  that  could  be  done  for  Zion,  but  pray  and 
weep,  and  love  her  doctrines,  and  glow  with  heavenly  affections, 
the  feebler  sex  could  furnish  the  Christian  world  with  soldiers.  But 
now,  when  the  kingdom  of  darkness  must  be  stormed,  Zion  needs 
the  aid  of  her  sons,  and  God,  it  would  seem,  accommodates  the 
operations  of  his  Spirit  to  the  interests  of  his  Church.  Paul  was 
not  converted  till  his  help  was  needed,  and  it  was  not  needed  till 
the  gospel  was  to  be  carried  to  the  Gentiles.  Every  revival  of 
late  contradicts  that  libel  long  legible  on  the  records  of  infidelity, 
that  religion  evinces  its  emptiness  by  its  exclusive  operation  upon  the 
feebler  part  of  our  race.  Recently  the  strong  and  muscular,  the 
very  champions  of  the  host  of  hell,  have  fallen  before  the  power 
of  truth,  and  are  harnessed  for  its  defence.  Moreover,  men  of 
science,  and  of  strong  mind,  have  in  their  own  esteem  become 
fools,  and  have  sat  down  to  learn  truth  at  a  Savior's  feet.  Our 
late  revivals  have  penetrated  schools  and  colleges.  Satan's  cause 
has  been  well  pleaded,  and  God  now  intends  to  plead  his  own : 
and  palsied  will  be  the  tongue  that  is  silent. 

Does  God  without  design  raise  up  these  instruments  1  Would 
one  pass  through  a  whole  kingdom,  and  employ  every  skilful  me- 
chanic, unless  he  intended  to  erect  some  mighty  edifice  1  If,  then, 
we  see  God  enlisting  men  in  his  service,  men  of  strength  and  science, 
does  he  not  intend  to  achieve  some  wondrous  design  1  Assuredly 
the  heavenly  building  will  rise.  These  talents  will  be,  and  they 
are  already  employed  in  extending  Emanuel's  empire.  India,  with 
other  benighted  lands,  has  already  received  our  missionaries,  and 
her  Moloch,  with  all  his  cursed  family  of  gods,  sicken  at  their 
prospect.  The  dark  places  of  his  empire  have  been  explored,  and 
the  sceptre  begins  to  tremble  in  his  palsied  hand.  And  poor  Afri- 
ca, more  debased  still,  has  found  a  tongue  to  plead  her  cause. 
Conscience,  long  asleep,  and  deaf  to  her  rights  has  waked,  and 
now,  her  sons,  fed  at  the  table  of  charity,  are  preparing  to  carry 


THE    CHURCH    SAFE.  49 

her  the  bread  of  life.  My  country,  deeper  in  her  debt  than  all 
other  lands,  has  begun  to  pay  its  long  arrears. 

Who  could  have  hoped,  a  few  years  since,  that  he  should  ever 
see  a  day  like  this  ?  If,  twenty  years  since,  one  had  told  me  that 
sixty  years  would  so  electrify  the  Christian  world,  I  should  have 
believed  him  visionary,  and,  like  the  unbelieving  Samaritan,  should 
have  pronounced  it  impossible,  unless  God  should  make  windows 
in  heaven,  and  rain  Bible  and  Missionary  Societies  from  above  :  but 
God  has  done  it  all  without  a  miracle.  And  blessed  be  his  name — 
will  my  readers  join  me  in  the  thank-offering  1 — blessed  be  his 
name,  that  he  cast  us  upon  such  an  age  as  this.  Blessed  be  his 
name,  that  we  were  not  born  a  century  sooner.  Then  we  had 
never  seen  the  dawn  of  this  millenial  morning,  nor  heard  the  glad 
tidings  which  now  reach  us  by  every  mail,  nor  had  an  opportunity, 
as  now,  to  purchase  for  our  offspring,  an  interest  in  the  Lord's 
fund.  Charity  was  then  in  a  deep  sleep.  India  bowed  to  her  idols, 
and  Africa  wore  her  chains,  unpitied  and  unrelieved.  Buchanan  and 
Wilberforce,  angels  of  mercy,  were  then  unborn.  Infidelity  then 
desolated  the  fairest  provinces  of  Christendom,  and  wars  were  the 
applauded  achievements  of  states  and  empires. 

But  the  age  of  infidelity  has  gone  by,  and  the  bloody  clarion 
has  breathed  out,  I  hope,  its  last  accursed  blast.  Events  are  tran- 
spiring which  bid  fair  to  bind  all  nations  in  the  bonds  of  love.  I 
had  read  of  such  a  period,  but  how  could  I  hope  to  see  it  1  '  The 
present  repose  of  nations  augurs  well  for  the  Church.  Christen- 
dom can  now  unite  her  efforts  to  evangelize  the  world,  while  the 
sailor  and  the  soldier  have  leisure  and  opportunity  to  read  the 
precious  Scriptures^  And  must  not  all  this  put  our  unbelief  to  the 
blush,  and  cover  us  with  shame  1 

The  past  twenty  years  have  so  outdone  our  highest  hopes,  as  to 
render  it  impossible  to  predict  what  twenty  more  may  do.  God 
has  begun  to  work  on  a  scale  new  and  grand  ;  and  the  inference 
is  that  he  will  go  on.  After  what  we  have  seen,  we  could  hardly 
be  surprised  if  twenty  years  to  come  should  put  the  Bible  into 
every  language  under  heaven,  and  should  send  missionaries,  more 
or  less,  to  every  benighted  district  of  earth.  Let  benevolent  exer- 
tion increase  in  the  ratio  of  the  past  seven  years,  and  God  add  his 
blessing,  and  half  a  century  will  evangelize  the  world,  tame  the 
lion  and  the  asp,  and  set  every  desert  with  temples,  devoted  to  the 
God  of  heaven.  When  the  bosom  of  charity  shall  beat  a  little 
stronger,  if  there  should  be  the  necessity,  men  will  sell  houses  or 
farms  to  save  the  heathen  from  hell ;  and  the  child  will  sit  down 
7 


50  THE    CHURCH    SAFE. 

and  weep,  who  may  not  say,  that  his  father  and  mother  were  the 
friends  of  missions.  And  what  parent  would  entail  such  a  curse 
upon  his  children,  and  prevent  them  from  lifting  up  their  heads  in 
the  millennium.  I  had  rather  leave  mine  toiling  in  the  ditch,  there 
to  enjoy  the  luxury  of  reflecting,  that  a  father's  charity  made  them 
poor.  Poor  !  They  are  poor  who  cannot  feel  for  the  miseries  of 
a  perishing  world  ;  to  whom  God  has  given  abundance,  but  who 
grudge  to  use  it  for  his  honor.  Teach  your  children  charity,  and 
they  can  never  be  poor.  "  The  liberal  soul  shall  be  made  fat,  and 
he  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  also  himself."  Can  this  promise 
fail  1  Then  we  can  all  leave  our  children  rich,  and  the  heirs  too 
of  a  fortune  they  can  never  squander.  We  can  purchase  for  them 
the  privilege  of  drawing  upon  the  exhaustless  resources  of  heaven. 
What  a  privilege  now  to  be  a  parent ! 

But  I  must  return  to  the  argument.  God  is  doing  so  much  for 
his  Church,  as  to  warrant  the  inference  that  he  will  do  still  more. 
The  hopes  he  raises  he  will  gratify.  The  prayer  he  indites  he  will 
answer.  To  see  what  God  is  doing,  I  find  it  impossible  to  doubt 
his  intentions.  The  present  is  a  prelude  to  brighter  scenes.  God 
would  not  have  done  so  much  for  his  people  had  he  intended  to 
abandon  them.  The  Church  will  live  and  prosper.  Instead  of 
trembling  for  the  ark,  let  us  weep  that  we  ever  thought  it  in 
danger. 

IV.  We  build  the  same  expectations  on  the  promises  and  pro- 
phecies. The  building  which  we  see  rising  God  has  promised  to 
finish.  He  has  all  the  materials  ;  the  silver  and  the  gold  are  his. 
He  has  enlisted  the  builders,  and  prepared  the  necessary  instru- 
ments. The  decree  has  gone  forth  that  Jerusalem  must  be  built, 
and  God  will  redeem  his  own  gratuitous  pledge :  he  will  do  as  he 
has  said. 

Early  in  the  reign  of  Emanuel  there  will  be  universal  peace. 
The  nations  are  to  "  beat  their  swords  into  plough-shares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning  hooks."  "  The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the 
lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid."  "  They  shall 
not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  "  God's  "  holy  mountain."  "  They  shall 
sit,  every  man  under  his  vine,  and  under  his  fig-tree ;  and  none 
shall  make  them  afraid." 

But  "  the  gospel  must  first  be  published  among  all  nations." 
On  this  promise  there  pours  at  present  a  stream  of  heavenly  light. 
The  angel,  "  having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  unto  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth,"  is  beginning  to  publish  it  "  to  every  na- 
tion, and  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people."  Kings  are  to  be  to 


THE    CHURCH    SAFE  51 

the  Church  nursing  fathers,  and  queens  nursing  mothers  ;  and  they 
have  already  taken  hold  of  the  work  with  interest.  Their  charity 
their  influence,  and  their  prayers,  have  already  contributed  to 
deepen  and  widen  the  channel  of  that  river  which  is  making  glad 
the  city  of  God.  In  the  progress  of  this  work  a  nation  shall  be 
born  in  a  day.  The  instance  of  Eimeo  may  be  considered  as  em- 
braced in  this  promise.  "  Thy  watchmen  shall  see  eye  to  eye." 
This  promise  has  commenced  its  accomplishment  in  the  harmony 
manifested  in  the  formation  and  support  of  Sabbath  schools,  and 
Bible  and  Missionary  Societies.  The  Jews  are  to  return  to  their 
land,  and  to  the  God  of  their  fathers.  There  shines  some  light 
upon  this  promise.  Many  are  at  present  migrating  to  Palestine 
from  the  north  of  Europe  ;  some  have  been  converted  to  the  faith 
of  Jesus,  many  not  cdnverted  are  members  of  Bible  societies,  and 
exertions  unparalleled  are  making  to  bring  them  to  the  light,  while 
individuals  of  their  number  are  proclaiming  to  their  deluded 
brethren  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  Soon  the  Bible  will 
supplant  the  Talmud. 

"  Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God."  Who 
does  not  see  this  promise  fast  accomplishing  1  Her  chains  are 
falling  and  her  mind  expanding.  There  have  commenced  a  train 
of  operations  that  promise  the  richest  blessings  to  the  children  of 
Ham.  Soon  the  Gambia,  the  Niger,  and  the  Nile,  will  grace  their 
shore  with  Christian  temples,  will  lend  their  waters  to  fertilize  a 
gospel  land,  and  bear  to  his  station  the  zealous  missionary.  In 
the  mean  time  the  wretched  Arab,  exchanging  his  Koran  for  the 
Bible,  and  tamed,  by  its  influence,  to  honest  industry,  will  settle 
the  quarrel  with  the  family  of  Jacob,  and  worship  in  the  same 
temple. 

If  we  turn  to  the  threatenings  against  the  enemies  of  the  Church, 
there  open  before  us  large  fields  of  promise.  Like  the  cloud  that 
severed  Pharaoh's  hosts  from  Israel  they  pour  impenetrable  dark- 
ness into  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  while  they  light  the  tents  of  Ja- 
cob. "  The  day  of  the  Lord  shall  burn  as  an  oven,  and  all  the 
proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do  wickedly,  shall  be  stubble,  and  the  day 
that  cometh  shall  burn  them  up,  saith  the  Lord ;  that  it  shall  leave 
them  neither  root  nor  branch."  Perhaps  the  complicated  miseries 
which  began  in  the  French  Revolution,  and  were  finished  at  Wa- 
terloo, might  commence  the  accomplishment  of  this  threatening. 
But  doubtless  other  storms  will  yet  beat  upon  the  camp  of  the 
enemy;  more  tremendous  than  anything  which  they  have  yet  ex- 
perienced. Some  believe  that  the  fifth  vial  has  not  yet  been  pour- 


52  THE    CHURCH   SAFE. 

ed  out  upon  the  seat  of  the  beast ;  and  all  agree  that  the  forty  and 
two  months,  during  which  the  holy  city  must  be  trodden  under 
foot,  are  not  yet  expired.  It  is  acknowledged  that  the  period  is 
twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years,  and  that  it  commenced  with  the 
reign  of  the  beast,  and  will  probably  terminate  in  the  present  cen- 
tury. Possibly  our  dear  children  may  live  to  see  the  precious 
moment  that  shall  close  the  period.  Then  the  messenger  of  the 
covenant  shall  make  his  glorious  ingress,  shall  destroy  his  ene- 
mies, shall  purify  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  cleanse  the  offering  of  Ju- 
dah.  Then  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea.  Jesus  shall  take  possession  of  the  in- 
heritance promised,  "  and  his  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  even  to 
sea,  and  from  the  river  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

Can  the  dejected  Christian  read  all  this,  and  believe  it  all,  and 
despondingly  weep  still  1  And  for  what  does  he  weep  1  God  has 
begun  to  erect  a  heavenly  temple  ;  the  work  has  never  stopped, 
and  he  promises  that  it  never  shall.  He  never  did  abandon  any 
work  which  he  began,  nor  did  there  ever  drop  from  his  lips  a  pro- 
mise that  was  not,  or  will  not  be  fulfilled.  And  what  more  can  he 
do  1  Christian,  you  may  weep  on,  but  let  your  tears  be  tears  of 
penitence  or  joy.  Every  harp  should  be  snatched  from  the  wil- 
lows, new  joys  should  be  felt,  and  new  anthems  sung  in  all  the  as- 
semblies of  the  saints.  He  that  shall  come,  will  come,  and  will 
not  tarry  ;  and  every  bosom  should  respond,  "  Even  so,  come  Lord 
Jesus,  come  quickly." 

APPLICATION. 

1.  If  to  any  it  is  a  burden  to  join  in  the  general  concert  of 
prayer  for  Zion's  increase,  they  can  excuse  themselves,  and  the 
glorious  work  will  still  go  on.     There  are  those  who  consider  the 
duty  a  privilege.     If  the  Church  could  live  without  them,  and  duty 
did  not  prompt  them  to  pray,  they  would  weep  to  be  denied  the 
privilege  of  bearing  her  interests  to  the  throne,  and  of  waiting  for 
the  redemption  of  Israel.     Such  may  wait  still  upon  the  Lord,  and 
may  wait  with  confidence,  that  every  prayer  will  be   answered, 
every  tear  preserved,  and  every  hope  accomplished.     But  are  there 
those  who  would  wish  to  be  excused  from  this  service  1  who  have 
no  pleasure  in  the  duty,  and  no  faith  in  the  promises  1     Well,  they 
can  act  their  pleasure,   and  the  Church  'Will  live.     But,  whether 
such  will  have  any  share  in  the  glories  of  that  kingdom,  whose 
approach  they  dread,  "  demands  a  doubt." 

2.  If  any  grudge  to  contribute  of  their  wealth,  for  the  advance- 


THE    CHURCH    SAFE.  53 

ment  of  the  Church,  they  can  withhold.  If  they  have  a  better  use 
for  their  money,  or  dare  not  trust  the  Lord,  there  is  no  compul- 
sion. Some  happy  beings  will  have  the  honor  of  the  work.  It  is  to 
be  accomplished  by  the  instrumentality  of  men,  and  if  any  are 
willing  to  be  excused,  and  insist  on  doing  nothing,  they  can  use 
their  pleasure.  And  if  such  would  ruin  their  children,  by  holding 
them  back,  they  can.  They  can  form  them  to  such  habits  that  the 
world  will  never  be  disturbed  by  their  munificence.  They  can 
prejudice  them  against  all  the  operations  of  Christian  charity  ;  can 
make  them  deaf  to  the  cry  of  the  six  hundred  millions  j  can  keep 
them  ignorant  of  what  the  Christian  world  is  doing,  and  what  God 
has  commanded  them  to  do.  And  there  can  then  be  very  little 
doubt  but  they  will  have  children  in  their  own  likeness.  But 
whether  God  will  not  finally  lay  claim  to  their  wealth,  and  cause 
it  to  be  expended  in  beautifying  his  holy  empire,  we  dare  not  as- 
sert. The  silver  and  the  gold  are  his. 

But  the  work  will  go  on.  Once  our  fears  on  the  subject  were 
great.  We  doubted  whether  the  Christian  world  would  ever  give 
the  heathen  the  gospel.  But  our  fears  are  removed.  We  have 
now  no  apprehension  as  to  the  issue,  and  can  only  pity  those  who 
are  blind  to  their  duty,  their  interest,  their  honor,  and  their  hap- 
piness. 

3.  If  any  are  willing  to  remain  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
they  can  act  their  pleasure  in  this  matter  too,  and  yet  the  marriage 
supper  will  be  full.  The  kingdom  of  Christ  will  be  large  enough  ; 
large  as  he  expected,  large  as  he  desired,  large  as  the  Father  pro- 
mised ;  large  enough  to  gratify  the  infinite  benevolence  of  his 
heart.  If  any  do  not  wish  to  live  in  heaven,  the  mansions  they 
might  have  filled  will  be  occupied  by  others.  The  celestial  choir 
will  be  full,  and  the  name  of  Jesus  will  receive  its  deserved  ap- 
plauses from  myriads  who  shall  be  redeemed  from  every  nation, 
kindred,  tongue,  and  people. 

If  sinners  can  do  without  God,  he  can  do  without  them.  They 
will  not  be  forced,  reluctantly,  to  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 
There  will  be  enough  who  will  come  willingly.  Heaven  will  be 
as  happy  as  it  would  be  if  more  were  saved.  And  the  prison  of 
despair  will  contain  exactly  that  number,  whose  ruin  will  exhibit 
to  the  best  advantage  the  character  of  Jehovah  :  and  the  smoke  of 
their  torment,  which  shall  ascend  up  for  ever  and  ever,  will  form  a 
stupendous  column,  on  which  will  be  written,  legible  to  all  heaven, 

HOLINESS,  JUSTICE,  TRUTH. 

The  vast  accession  made  to  the  Church  in  the  late  revivals,  and 


54  THE    CHURCH    SAFE. 

the  still  greater  increase  in  the  future  years  of  millennial  glory, 
will  swell  the  number  of  the  saved  beyond  all  calculation.  Sinners 
who  now  join  the  multitude,  and  are  thus  secured  from  present 
reproach,  will  soon  find  themselves  attached  to  an  insignificant 
and  despicable  minority.  It  would  seem  at  present  that  the  num- 
ber of  the  lost  will  be  great,  but  you  may  multiply  them  beyond 
the  power  of  human  enumeration,  and  still  there  is  no  fear  but  the 
number  of  the  saved  will  be  greater. 

If  any,  then,  would  prefer  to  remain  out  of  the  kingdom,  they 
have  their  choice,  and  the  shame  and  ruin  will  be  their  own.  God 
intends  to  let  them  do  as  they  please,  and  those  who  love  his 
kingdom  most,  anxious  as  they  now  are  for  the  salvation  of  their 
fellow-men,  will  at  last  be  satisfied  with  the  number  of  the  saved. 
We  invite  none  to  become  the  subjects  of  Christ's  kingdom,  but 
those  who  will  esteem  his  yoke  easy  and  his  burden  light. 

4.  If  any  should  be  disposed  to  enter  into  league  with  the  lost, 
angels,   and  oppose  the  Church,  they  can  do  so,  and  still  the 
Church  will  live.     Earth  and  hell  united,  can  make  no   effectual 
opposition  to  her  interests.     God  is  in  the  midst  of  his  people, 
and  will  help  them,  and  that  right  early.     In  these  circumstances, 
one  shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight. 

Some  opposition  is  necessary  to  awaken  her  energies.  Solomon 
was  seven  years  building  the  first  temple,  when  all  was  peace ; 
but  Ezra,  with  the  trowel  in  one  hand,  and  the  sword  in  the  other, 
could  build  the  second  in  four.  The  enemy  has  always  promoted 
the  interest  he  wished  to  destroy.  God  will  make  the  wrath  of 
man  to  praise  him,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath  he  will  restrain. 
If  any  would  make  opposition  to  the  growing  interests  of  Emanu- 
el,  they  can  ;  but  they  will  accomplish  their  own  ruin,  and  perhaps 
the  ruin  of  their  children.  It  never  was  so  dangerous  as  now  to 
be  the  enemy  of  Christ's  kingdom.  All  such  must  be  crushed 
under  the  wheels  of  that  car,  in  which  the  Son  of  God  is  riding  in 
triumph  through  a  conquered  empire.  To  make  opposition  is  as 
unavailing  as  if  a  fly  should  make  an  effort  to  stop  the  sun.  There 
await  the  enemies  of  the  cross,  certain  defeat,  shame,  and  ruin. 
"He  made  a  pit,  and  digged  it,  and  is  fallen  into  the  ditch  which 
he  made.  His  mischief  shall  return  upon  his  own  head,  and  his 
violent  dealings  shall  come  down  upon  his  own  pate."  In  the 
mean  time  the  Church  is  safe.  "  Fear  not,  little  flock  ;  for  it  is 
your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom." 

5.  Fathers  and  brethren  in  the  ministry,  this  subject  will  raise 
your  hopes.     Are  you  stationed  where  it  is  all  darkness  around 


THE    CHURCH   SAFE.  55 

you,  and  have  the  hosts  of  hell  alarmed  you!  cheer  up  your 
hearts.  Try  to  penetrate  the  surrounding  darkness,  and  you  will 
soon  be  convinced  that  your  fears  are  ill-timed.  Speak  to  the 
children  of  Israel,  that  they  go  forward.  If  night  does  seem  to 
hover  about  us,  still  is  it  manifest  that  the  day  has  dawned  upon 
the  hills.  The  Church  has  never  been  in  danger,  and  we  ought  to 
be  ashamed  of  our  fears.  Be  at  your  watch-tower,  dear  brethren ; 
turn  your  eye  to  the  east,  and  you  will  soon  descry  the  light.  If 
there  is  any  truth  in  the  promise,  and  if  a  thousand  transpiring 
events  can  speak,  we  shall  soon  have  opportunity  to  hail  Emanuel 
at  his  second  coming.  If  our  courage  fails  us  in  a  day  like  this, 
we  have  only  to  lie  down  and  die  with  shame.  While  the  victory 
was  doubtful,  you  might  be  afraid,  and  yet  save  your  character, 
but  none  are  afraid  now  but  the  coward.  Shall  we  hesitate  to  die, 
if  necessary,  in  securing  a  victory  already  gained ;  and  to  gain 
which  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  and  many  of  his  soldiers  have 
spilt  their  blood  1  Our  missionary  brethren  have  carried  the 
standard  of  the  cross,  and  planted  it  within  the  entrenchments  of 
the  enemy,  and  their  courage  has  not  failed ;  and  shall  we  tremble 
in  the  camp  1  We  shall  then  have  no  share  in  the  spoil.  Dear 
brethren,  I  will  not  insult  you ;  you  are  not  afraid  ;  you  will  die  at 
your  post,  and  the  victory  will  be  secured. 

6.  Dear  Christian  brethren,  you  see  the  royal  canopy  which 
your  Lord  casts  over  your  heads ;  or  rather  the  shield  he  spreads 
before  you.  If  you  are  not  officers  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  you  ,are 
soldiers ;  if  you  may  not  command,  you  may  fight,  but  not  with 
carnal  weapons.  Let  the  subject  raise  your  courage.  A  few 
more  conflicts  and  your  toils  are  ended ;  the  Church  is  safe,  and 
you  are  safe.  Only  believe,  and  soon  you  will  see  the  salvation 
of  God.  And  as  the  Savior  approaches,  and  you  see  him,  you 
may  say  with  the  prophet,  "  Lo,  this  is  our  God ;  we  have  waited 
for  him,  and  he  will  save  us :  this  is  the  Lord  j  we  have  waited 
for  him,  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  his  salvation." ' 


SERMON   II. 
NOTHING  SAFE  BUT  THE  CHURCH. 

DEUTERONOMY    XXXII.    9. 

The  Lord's  portion  is  his  people ;  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  his  inheritance. 

WHEN  God  exhibits  himself,  as  the  portion  of  his  people,  we 
feel  no  surprise.  He  can  be  to  them  all  they  need,  can  gratify  all 
their  wants,  and  all  their  hopes.  But  what  can  his  people  be  or 
do  for  him  1  How  can  they  so '/rise'  in  his  estimation,  that  he 
shall  style  them  his  portion  and  his  inheritance  1  The  God  who 
has  built  a  thousand  worlds,  who  thunders  in  the  heavens,  and 
holds  the  stars  in  his  right  hand ;  can  he  value  his  people  above 
them  all  1  And  yet  this  precious  truth  is  prominent  in  the  text, 
and  is  demonstrated,  by  the  whole  course  of  providential  events, 
since  the  creation  of  the  world.  If  that  is  the  dearest  to  God 
which,  cost  him  most,  as  is  often  the  fact  in  our  history,  then  indeed 
there  is  an  obvious  reason  for  the  truth  of  the  text.  Worlds  took 
being  at  his  word,  and  will  perish  at  his  bidding,  but  he  redeemed 
his  people  with  the  life  of  his  Son ;  hence  his  high  regard  for 
them.  And  hence  a  reason  for  all  he  intends  to  do  for  them  in 
futurity.  He  will  guide  them  with  his  counsel,  and  afterward 
receive  them  to  glory. 

Hence  to  God's  people  the  text  contains  a  very  precious  truth. 
God  has  selected  from  the  works  of  his  hands,  as  what  shall  stand 
the  highest  in  his  estimation,  his  redeemed  people.  Not  that  he 
has  alienated  his  right  to  any  thing.  Every  world  that  he  has 
built  is  his,  and  his  foes  are  his.  But  in  his  Church  he  will  take 
peculiar  pleasure.  He  will  employ  all  his  energies  to  make  his 
people  happy,  and  himself  happy  in  them.  This  was  his  purpose 
when  he  built  the  creation,  and  when  fully  accomplished,  "  The 
heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll,  and  the  earth  and  the 
works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up."  • 

But  there  is  a  truth  implied  in  this  text  of  solemn  and  dreadful 
import.  It  makes  worthless  every  thing  in  this  world,  but  the 


NOTHING    SAFE    BUT    THE    CHURCH.  '         57 

church  of  God.  And  what  is  worthless  is  not  safe.  Hence  I  pur- 
pose to  illustrate  this  doctrine,  There  is  nothing  safe  but  the  church. 
My  intention  is  to  look  at  facts,  ancient  and  modern,  together  with 
what  God  assures  us  shall  transpire  in  future  ;  all  going  to  show, 
that  while  God  has  always  cared  for  his  Church,  he  never  did 
place  intrinsic  value  upon  any  thing  else. 

I.  /  notice  ancient  facts.  When  the  world  was  built,  it  is  be- 
lieved to  have  exhibited  to  the  eye  of  its  Maker  unmingled  beauty ; 
and  would  seem  to  us  to  have  had  intrinsic  value.  But  it  was 
only  holiness  that  God  valued.  Sin  entered, 

11  Earth  felt  the  wound,  and  nature  from  her  seat, 
Sighing  through  all  her  works,  gave  signs  of  wo, 
That  all  was  lost." 

There  were  then  generated  the  thorn  and  the  thistle,  and  the 
curse  of  God  lighted  upon  every  part  of  this  creation.  A  holy 
G^pd  could  set  no  value  upon  a  world  bereft  4of  moral  rectitude. 
It  would  not  have  been  surprising,  had  he  destroyed  it,  and  built 
another,  to  be  filled  with  beings  who  would  obey  his  law,  and  be 
worthy  of  his  kind  regards.  But  his  wisdom  devised  a  remedy, 
and  he  set  up  in  that  apostate  family  a  Church,  whose  interest  has 
ever  since  then  given  to  every  thing  else  its  price.  When  the 
Church  increased,  the  world  was  valuable,  and  when  it  diminished, 
the  world  became  in  the  estimation  of  God  comparatively  a  pile 
of  stubble. 

Cast  one  look  at  the  antedeluvian  history.  The  Church  had 
dwindled  to  a  point,  and  became  at  length  embosomed  in  a  single 
family.  To .  save  that  family  no  pains  were  spared ;  but  all  else, 
men  and  things,  except  what  was  needed  to  feed  the  floating 
Church,  and  enable  his  people  to  cultivate  and  stock  the  new 
world,  perished.  Wealth  and  magnificence  had  now  lost  their 
value.  If  God  had  pleased,  he  could  have  avenged  himself  of  his 
adversaries,  and  still  have  spared  that  vast  amount  of  wealth,  which 
perished  in  their  overthrow.  But  why  do  it  I  The  treasures  of 
the  old  world  had  ceased  to  be  valuable,  when  the  Church  was 
gone.  Their  innumerable  cities,  walled  up  to  heaven,  and  filled 
with  precious  things,  were  all  swept  away.  How  wonderful,  to 
see  Jehovah  restrain  the  deluge  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
after  his  purpose  to  destroy  had  gone  out,  till  the  ark  was  pre- 
pared, his  long-suffering  evinced,  and  a  happy  family  housed  from 
the  impending  desolation!  This  done,  he  collected  into  that 


58  NOTHING  SAFE  BUT  THE  CHURCH. 

house  of  safety  all  that  was  valuable,  his  little  Church  and  what 
they  needed  to  sustain  them  during  the  solitary  year,  their  food 
and  raiment,  and  the  materials  for  reanimating  the  new  world. 
He  could  then  smile  at  the  tempest,  and  stimulate  the  storm.  O 
how  great  is  God  out  of  his  holy  place  !  How  sadly  unsafe  are 
that  people,  and  those  treasures  that  have  no  connection  with  his 
kingdom ! 

There  was  offered  another  argument  in  support  of  the  same 
truth  on  the  plains  of  Sodom.  A  branch  of  the  true  Church  had 
been  located  in  that  dissolute  valley,  and  was  at  length  in  danger 
of  being  swallowed  up  in  the  gulf  of  depravity.  The  population 
was  too  wealthy  to  be  wise,  had  too  much  of  the  meat  that  perish- 
eth,  to  regard  that  meat  that  endureth  to  everlasting  life.  The 
Watchman  of  Israel,  as  he  surveyed  the  devoted  plain,  saw  his  whole 
Church  in  a  single  house,  and  what  was  his  he  saved,  but  swept 
away  the  residue.  The  abandoned  population,  their  palaces,  their 
gold,  their  merchandize,  their  flocks  and  harvest,  their  gaudy 
apparel,  and  all  their  guilty  instruments  of  idolatry  and  lust,  wore 
in  God's  account  of  no  value,  were  no  part  of  his  inheritance. 
The  moment  Lot  was  gone,  the  guard  that  kept  the  plain  was 
called  in. 

It  will  not  be  denied  that  God  could  have  avenged  upon  that 
guilty  community  his  broken  law,  and  still  have  spared  their  riches, 
but  these  had  no  value  when  his  Churches  had  retired.  If  Lot  or 
Abraham  could  have  been  more  holy  or  more  happy,  God  would 
have  spared  them  the  treasures  he  consumed.  But  he  chose  here 
to  display  his  vindictive  justice,  and  create  them  other  and  bet- 
ter comforts.  All  that  in  his  estimation  was  valuable,  he  saved. 

So  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  God  collected  his  people  into  Goshen, 
and  there  spread  a  canopy  over  them,  while  he  poured  out  his 
plagues  upon  their  oppressors.  Out  of  that  little  territory,  there 
was  nothing  in  all  that  idolatrous  land,  on  which  he  seems  to  have 
placed  the  smallest  value^.  Its  population,  having  filled  up  the  cup 
of  their  iniquity,  and  their  monuments  of  grandeur,  and  skill,  and  op- 
pression, were  the  merest  vanity.  The  life  or  liberty  of  one  be- 
lieving child  of  Abraham  out-priced  them  all.  Hence  over  his 
precious  fold  he  placed  one  hand,  while  with  the  other  he  wrote 
Tekel  upon  the  walls  of  Egypt,  and  spread  desolation  and  death 
through  its  fields  and  its  streets.  The  plagues  I  know  raged  un- 
der the  divine  control :  but  they  might  destroy  any  where  except 
in  Goshen. 

So  at  the  Red  sea  the  surest  laws  of  nature  were  suspended,  for 


NOTHING  SAFE  BUT  THE  CHURCH.  59 

the  deliverance  of  Israel ;  while  the  pursuing  enemy  seems  to 
have  been  as  worthless,  in  the  esteem  of  Israel's  God,  as  their 
beasts  and  their  chariots.  When  the  Church  had  reached  the 
Arabian  shore,  and  the  rear-rank  was  out  of  danger,  God  suffered 
the  raging  waters  to  find  their  level.  He  had  saved  his  people, 
and  Jhere  was  nothing  else  to  save.  The  Egyptian  army  were 
God's  enemies,  and  their  overthrow  an  act  of  retributive  justice, 
and  while  the  tender  heart  bleeds  over  the  grave  of*  that  ill-fated 
multitude  ;  we  are  not  forbidden  in  the  midst  of  our  tears,  to  reason 
on  the  palpable  insecurity  thus  shown  us  of  all  but  the  Church  of  God. 
He  would  open  a  path  through  the  deep  for  his  people,  but  would 
not  employ  his  power  to  hold  back  the  sea  a  moment  longer  than 
the  safety  of  his  Church  required. 

So  the  Amorites  and  Moabites  melted  away  in  in  their  contest 
with  Israel.     And   the    Canaanites,  when  the  family  of  Abraham 
needed  their  lands,  were  the  merest  stubble,  and  the  breath  of  the 
Lord  consumed  them.     They  cried  to  their  gods,  but  they  perish- 
ed  in  the  midst   of  their  devotions :  their  idols  could  not  save 
them.     There  even  went  out  in  behalf  of  Israel  this  edict,  "  The 
kingdom  and  nation  that  will  not  serve  thee  shall  perish."     Thus 
the  world  was  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  the   Church.     Nations  held 
their   existence   on  the  sole  condition,  that  they  should  be  found 
useful  to  Israel,  and  perished  when   God  ceased  to  have  need  of 
them.    "I  gave  Egypt  for  thy  ransom,  Ethiopia  and  Seba  for  thee." 
Now  as  we  travel  down  the  tract  of  ages,  we  shall  find  constant 
illustrations    of  the  fact  that   God   values   nothing   else  ^but   his 
Church.     This  one  interest,  as  far  as  God  has  been  seen  to  ope- 
rate in  this  world,  appears  to  have  engrossed  his  whole  care.    The 
Church  is  that  monument  which  has  stood  and  told  his  glory  to 
every  new-born  generation.     Other  kingdoms,  rapid  in  their  rise, 
and  dominant  in  their  power,  have  gone  rapidly  into  oblivion,  and 
heaven  has  kept  no  very  careful  record  of  their  obsequies.     The 
Assyrian,  the  Medo-Persian,  the  Grecian,  and  Roman  empires,  with 
all  their  multitudes,  their  wealth,  their  science,  and  their  mili- 
tary prowess,  have  perished  in  the  wreck  of  time ;  while  through 
all  these  periods  not  a  promise  of  God  to  his  people  has  failed,  nor 
a  pious  hope  been  unaccomplished.     The  little   stone,   cut  out  of 
the  mountain,  without  hands,  has  become  a  great  mountain,  while 
the  rock,  from  which  it  was  hewn,  is  seen  to  crumble  and  perish. 
Empires  dazzling  in  the  eye  of  man,  but  inimical  to  the  Church  of 
Christ,  were  worthless  in  the  esteem  of  God.     Their  proud  sta- 
tues, their  triumphal  arches ;  their  mausoleums,  their  heroes  and 


60  NOTHING    SAFE    BUT   THE    CHURCH. 

their  gods,  he  swept  away  with  the  besom  of  destruction.  Baal, 
Dagon,  Moloch,  and  Jupitar  have  perished  with  their  hosts  of 
worshippers,  while  not  a  saint  has  wept  unnoticed,  nor  a  prayer 
remained  unanswered. 

Not  for  one  moment  has  God  forgotten  his  covenant,  while  he 
has  thus  swept  away  from  time,  and  life,  whatever  that  covenant 
did  not  include.  In  that  darkest  hour  of  Israel's  history,  the  seven 
thousand  wh*o  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  God  loved  and 
comforted  with  his  presence  ;  felt  all  their  oppressions,  reproved 
kings  for  their  sake,  put  their  tears  into  his  bottle,  and  minuted 
all  their  wrongs,  that  he  might  apportion  to  each,  in  the  coming 
life,  his  appropriate  weight  of  glory.  And  the  archives  of  heaven 
can  never  be  lost.  The  history  of  every  suffering  believer  is  writ- 
ten as  with  the  point  of  a  diamond  on  a  rock,  and  will  remain  legi- 
ble in  the  day  of  retribution. 

But  I  must  return  from  this  digression.  I  am  giving  you  the 
sad  history  of  what  was  not  the  Church.  There  came  a  period 
when  Jerusalem  changed  its  relationship  to  God.  The  Church's 
light  went  out,  and  the  religion  of  the  sanctuary  was  reduced  to 
unmeaning  and  polluted  ceremonies.  The  house  of  prayer  for  all 
nations,  became  a  den  of  thieves.  From  that  moment  the  interest 
which  God  had  taken  in  the  holy  city  and  sanctuary  was  alienated. 
No  longer  would  God  be  known  in  palaces  of  Zion  for  a  refuge. 
The  people  of  Jerusalem  had  become  as  worthless  as  those  of 
Moab  or  Edom.  Then  the  moment  was,  that  God  could  without 
regret  see  their  city  demolished,  and  the  last  stone  of  their  proud 
temple  thrown  down.  He  loved  his  people,  and  loved  Jerusalem, 
and  the  temple,  while  they  were  holy :  but  when  the  priesthood 
became  corrupted,  and  the  temple  profaned,  and  the  divine  glory 
forsook  the  mercy-seat,  he  then  abandoned  the  consecrated  spot, 
as  being  no  longer  a  section  of  his  inheritance,  and  suffered  the 
hedges  of  his  vineyard  to  be  broken  down.  And  he  now  cares  no 
more  for  the  holy  land,  than  for  other  lands.  If  the  time  shall 
come  again  that  his  covenant  people  shall  be  there,  walking  in  his 
statutes,  he  will  build  again  the  walls  he  has  thrown  down,  and 
render  Jerusalem  a  theatre  of  his  glory.  Up  to  that  hour,  Syria 
and  Egypt,  shall  be  as  sacred  as  Canaan  ;  and  the  stones  and  dust 
of  his  temple  be  as  uninteresting  and  unholy,  as  the  ruins  of  de- 
molished Babylon ;  a  place  of  dragons  and  of  owls. 

II.  I  come  now  to  look  at  modern  facts,  expecting  to  find  here 
the  same  testimony,  as  in  past  events,  to  the  truth  of  the  doctrine, 


NOTHING  SAFE  BUT  THE  CHURCH.  61 

that  nothing  but  xthe  Church  is  safe.  In  the  convulsions  of  our 
times,  we  have  seen  everything  placed  at  hazard,  but  the  Church 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Every  revolution  demonstrates  that 
God  has  no  other  interest  in  our  world.  In  the  past  half  century 
how  low  a  price  has  he  set  upon  crowns  and  kingdoms.  And  the 
lives  of  armies,  composed  generally  of  ungodly  men,  how  unwor- 
thy have  they  seemed  of  his  care.  The  fowls  of  heaven  fatten 
upon  their  bodies,  and  the  soil  is  enriched  with  their  blood.  The 
thousands  that  fell  at  Waterloo,  if  impenitent,  were  in  the  estimate 
of  heaven  as  worthless  as  the  clods  that  covered  them.  But  if 
there  died  in  that  murdered  multitude  a  pious  soldier,  angels  will 
watch  his  ashes  till  he  rise,  and  God  be  more  interested  in  the 
turf  that  covers  him,  than  in  the  splendid  monument  that  stands 
upon  the  tomb  of  the  hero.  An  empire  of  his  enemies  is  in  God's 
esteem  of  more  trifling  amount  than  one  obscure  believer.  The 
hosts  that  have  died  in  the  fields  of  modern  battle,  perished  be- 
cause the  Church  had  no  farther  use  for  them.  Else  that  promise 
would  not  be  true,  "  All  things  are  yours,  whether  Paul,  or  Apol- 
los,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world."  And  well  may  we  ask  with  the 
poet, 

"  What  are  the  earth's  wide  kingdoms  else, 
But  mighty  hills  of  prey  ?" 

In  all  this  a  believer  will  find  no  mystery.  The  Bible  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  have  taught  him,  that  nothing  has  intrinsic  worth 
but  holiness,  and  that  God  can  place  no  value  upon  what  is  worth- 
less. Hence  he  lets  loose  his  winds,  which  go  teeming  forth  with 
desolation.  Navies  are  wrecked  upon  the  reefs,  and  cities  torn 
from  their  base.  Earthquakes  spread  the  cry  of  death,  and  open 
a  thousand  graves  at  a  shock.  Kingdoms  are  shaken,  and  whole 
islands,  with  their  wealth,  and  pride,  and  enterprise,  sink  into  the 
opening  gulf.  The  wealth  of  ages  perishes  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  and  with-it  talents,  eloquence,  wisdom,  science,  the  curiosities 
of  antiquity,  and  the  close  kept  records  of  a  hundred  generations. 
All  this  time  the  promise  holds  to  God's  people,  "  No  evil  shall 
come  nigh  thee."  Things  are  rich  and  splendid  in  the  view  of 
men,  which  weigh  nothing  in  the  account  of  God.  If  one  saint 
must  share  in  the  general  calamity,  him  the  Lord  watches  with  his 
eye,  supports  him  in  death,  and  lightens  the  glooms  of  his  sepul- 
chre. But  men  who  have  filled  up  thek  cup,  and  the  wealth  that 
brought  their  perdition,  all  these  God  values  at  nothing. 

The  fact  is,  and  no  fact  is  more  interesting,  the  world  was  built 


62  NOTHING    SAFE    BUT   THE    CHURCH. 

for  the  use  of  the  Church.  Holiness  only,  and  that  which  pro- 
motes holiness,  are  valuable.  The  walls  and  hedges  of  a  vineyard, 
are  useful  while  there  are  vines  to  protect,  and  may  be  burned  or 
demolished  when  the  vines  are  withered.  Kingdoms  have  been 
built  and  perished,  and  armies  been  congregated  and  slaughtered, 
to  serve  the  interests  of  the  Church.  Hence,  said  the  apostle, 
"  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all, 
how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  1" 

Hence  to  Zion's  interest  bends  every  other,  is  decreed  every  re- 
volution, contributes  every  storm,  rolls  every  ocean,  and  flows 
every  tide.  Earth  is  barren  or  fruitful  as  her  interests  require. 
As  on  the  whole  kingdom  of  Israel  it  might  not  rain  for  two  and 
forty  months,  when  God's  people  needed  the  protection  of  a  judg- 
ment so  long  protracted,  so  may  we  presume  that  at  the  call  of 
Zion's  interests,  God  now  withholds,  or  imparts  blessings. 

The  amount  of  the  whole  is,  that  nothing  has  value,  that  does 
not  contribute  to  advance  the  one  interest  which  God  has  made 
paramount  in  this  world.  Royal  blood,  when  the  king  is  not  his 
servant,  is  base  and  degenerate.  The  blood  of  David  he  watched 
with  care,  knew  every  artery  in  which  it  flowed,  for  he  had  pro- 
mised to  his  seed  the  throne  of  Israel :  but  the  blood  of  Saul  be- 
came petrified  in  its  channels.  The  blood  of  saints  and  martyrs  is 
royal,  the  blood  of  prophets  and  apostles ;  for  these  he  hath  pro- 
mised, shall  sit  on  thrones,  and  wear  crowns  of  glory  that  shall 
never  fade.  Thus  are  the  passing  ages  gleaned  of  every  relic  that 
belongs  to  the  saints,  and  when  the  gleanings  are  finished,  the 
stubble  is  promptly  consumed.  The  world  is  still  under  tribute 
to  Zion,  as  in  the  ages  that  have  gone  by,  and  we  must  leave  it 
with  God  to  say,  whether  he  will  relax  the  rigor  of  his  requisi- 
tions, till  all  the  nations  have  perished,  and  the  redeemed  are  all 
brought  home  to  heaven.  I  am  to  look, 

III.  Jit  the  events  which  God  has  assured  us  shall  transpire  hereaf- 
ter. If  by  the  light  of  promise  and  of  prophecy  we  look  into  futu- 
rity, God  is  still  seen  in  the  attitude  of  fostering  his  Church,  and 
overlooking  every  other  interest.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord.  Holiness  to  the  Lord 
is  to  be  written  upon  the  bells  of  the  horses,  as  if  to  teach  us  that 
nothing  shall  exist,  but  that  which  is  consecrated  to  God.  The 
highest  offices  of  state  are  to  become  subservient  to  the  interests 
of  Zion.  Kings  are  to  be  nursing  fathers,  and  queens  nursing 
mothers  to  the  Church.  It  is  evident,  on  almost  every  page  of  the 


NOTHING    SAFE    BUT    THE   CHURCH.  63 

prophecies,  that  Zion's  interests  are  one  day  to  absorb  all  other 
interests. 

The  world  seems  already  to  be  shaping  itself  to  become  one 
holy  empire  under  the  Prince  of  peace.  I  would  be  neither  an  in- 
fidel nor  an  enthusiast  j  but  would  fear  all  that  God  has  threaten- 
ed, and  expect  all  that  he  has  promised.  I  read,  "  Blessed  are  the 
meek  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth ;"  this  promise  I  calculate 
will  be  verified.  I  read  again,  "  The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into 
hell,  and  all  the  nations  that  forget  God  5"  this  threatening  I  would 
fear.  The  wealth  which  men  would  not  expend  in  blessing  Zion 
will  perish  in  the  using.  Pearls  worth  each  a  kingdom,  God  in- 
tends shall  be  melted  down  in  the  last  conflagration.  When  the 
Church  shall  need  their  aid  no  longer,  sun,  moon,  and  stars  will 
lose  their  fires  and  their  light.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  which 
are  now,  as  we  are  assured  by  the  word  of  God,  are  kept  in  store, 
reserved  unto  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment,  and  perdition  of 
ungodly  men.  Thus  I  see  the  grand  system  consummated. 

But  through  all  these  scenes,  and  even  this  last,  God  will  be 
kind  to  his  people.  He  will  not  usher  in  that  period,  till  the  last 
believer  is  sanctified.  The  orb  of  day  will  continue  in  full  blaze, 
till  the  last  pilgrim  is  lighted  home.  When  Christ  has  opened  the 
portals  of  everlasting  life  upon  the  rearmost  of  the  ransomed  mul- 
titude, then  the  lights  of  heaven  will  go  out.  Christ  will  wake  his 
people,  and  bid  them  escape  to  heaven,  before  the  last  fires  are 
kindled.  Thus  to  the  last  the  Church  is  safe,  and  nothing  else. 
This  one  interest  God  ever  made  his  care,  and  it  will  continue  to 
be  his  care  for  ever. 


REMARKS. 

1.  If  it  should  be  objected  to  this  reasoning,  that  there  have  been 
periods  when  the  Church  seemed  unsafe,  while  its  foes  were  safe  ; 
it  may  be  replied,  that  the  Church  still  lives,  and,  therefore,  up  to 
this  time  has  been  safe,  while  every  other  interest  has  been  placed 
at  hazard.  All  the  ancient  foes  of  Zion,  who  for  a  time  seemed  to 
prosper,  have  gone  to  their  own  place.  Scarcely  a  trace  of  those 
kingdoms,  which  employed  their  power  to  destroy  the  Church  of 
God,  can  now  be  found.  And  her  individual  foes,  unless  convert- 
ed into  friends,  have  all  perished,  or  we  see  them  on  their  way  to 
perdition.  On  this  point  we  have  the  direct  testimony  of  God. 

Moreover,  we  have  never  seen  Jehovah  make  bare  his  arm  for 
the  destruction  of  his  Church,  as  of  her  foes.  He  has  often  rebuked 


64  NOTHING  SAFE  BUT  THE  CHURCH. 

his  people  when  they  sinned,  but  they  repented,  and  he  forgave 
them.  "  In  a  little  wrath  he  hid  his  face  from  them  for  a  moment ; 
but  with  everlasting  kindness  he  had  mercy  on  them."  Not.  so 
with  their  enemies.  God  has  swept  them  away  as  with  the  besom 
of  destruction.  The  storms  of  wrath  came  down  upon  them,  and 
they  did  not  repent  till  God  had  utterly  destroyed  them.  It  was 
not  with  them  a  temporary  rebuke  and  then  mercy,  but  an  utter 
consumption.  Thus  the  two  cases  infinitely  differ. 

2.  If  it  be  objected  that  the  subject  exhibits  God  as  indifferent 
to  the  welfare  of  some  part  of  the  human  family ;  we  reply,  he  will 
do  none  of  his  creatures  wrong.     The  objection  arises  from  view- 
ing sin  as  a  calamity  rather  than  a  crime.     If  wicked  men  deserve 
only  wrath,  God,  in  destroying  them,  does  right. 

Moreover,  God  offers  all  men  his  love,  and  a  sure  sanctuary  with 
his  people.  If  they  will  not  have  him  to  reign  over  them,  then 
God  will  appear  gracious,  while  he  provides  for  those  who  trust 
in  him,  and  just  and  holy  while  he  leaves  all  others  to  eat  the  fruit 
of  their  doings,  'and  be  filled  with  their  own  devices. 

3.  Let  me  suggest  that  "  all  are  not  Israel  who  are  o/  Israel." 
While  we  have  thus  celebrated  the  safety  of  the  Church,  and  have 
seen  all  else  in  danger,  let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  the  Church 
invisible.     If  a  false  profession  would  secure  us,  the  way  to  heaven 
would  be  the  broad  way.  But  when  any  section  of  the  visible  Church 
became  corrupt,  it  perished.    A  false  professor  is  of  no  more  value 
in  the  esteem  of  God,  than  an  infidel.     Judas  and  Julian  had  a  seat 
among  the  disciples,  but  their  ruin  was  none  the  less  prompt  and 
consummate.     It  is  holiness  that  God  values.     When  the  Lord 
Jesus  shall  come  the  second  time,  without  sin  unto  salvation,  if  he 
find  any  of  his  people  without  the  fold,  he  will  save  them ;  and  if 
he  finds  his  foes  within,  he  will  recognize  them,  and   send  them 
away  into  utter  darkness,  where    is  weeping  and   gnashing   of 
teeth. 

4.  The  subject  we  contemplate  shows  us  that  God  is  interested 
in  every  large  or  small  community,  more  or  less,  as  it  contains  a 
greater  or  less  amount  of  holiness.     Show  me  a  kingdom  where 
there  are  none  of  his  elect,  and  with  the  word  of  God  in  my  hand 
I  can  predict  its  destiny.     It  will  prolong  its  existence  only  while 
in  some  way  it  serves  the  church,  and  will  then   become  extinct. 
But  let  a  nation  embosom  a  large  body  of  believers,  or  let  its  ener- 
gies be  expended  to  serve  the  Church,  and  it  has  the  surest  possi- 
ble defence. 

Hence  all  that  confidence  which,  in  times  of  political  distress, 


NOTHING   SAFE    BUT    THE   CHURCH.  65 

we  place  in  men  and  measures  is  a  delusive  trust.  It  is  the  pre- 
sence of  moral  rectitude,  and  the  prayer  of  faith,  that  render  God 
a  nation's  guardian.  Yes,  lovers  of  your  country,  fill  our  land  with 
temples,  and  Bibles,  and  truth  j  let  it  stand  pre-eminent  in  the  work 
of  spreading  the  gospel ;  let  our  officers  be  peace,  and  our  exact- 
ors righteousness  ;  and  we  are  more  ably  defended  than  we  could 
be  by  all  the  armies  that  were  ever  congregated,  and  all  the  navies 
that  ever  rode  upon  the  sea.  Nations  may  boast  of  their  strength, 
and  array  their  forces,  but  if  they  do  not  please  God,  and  he  de- 
spise their  host,  they  fall  an  easy  prey. 

So  in  a  city  or  a  town  where  there  is  no  holiness  God  has  no  in- 
terest. He  will  not  care  for  our  improvements  in  trade  or  indus- 
try, or  take  pleasure  in  our  accumulated  fortunes.  By  how  much 
we  subserve  the  interests  of  his  kingdom,  so  will  be  the  kindness 
he  will  feel  for  us,  and  the  care  he  will  take  of  us.  Unless  held 
in  requisition  for  God,  all  we  have  is  dross ;  "  our  gold  and  silver 
are  corrupted,  and  our  garments  are  moth-eaten." 

So  in  churches  and  congregations  God  has  an  interest,  and  exerts 
an  agency  in  their  behalf,  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
holiness  found  there.  Let  a  Church  be  very  corrupt,  and  God  will 
care  but  little  for  it ;  let  all  its  members  be  holy,  and  it  stands  high 
in  the  estimation  of  Heaven.  Not  in  exact  accordance  to  their 
numbers  are  the  Churches  arranged  on  the  records  of  heaven.  In 
many  a  case  shall  the  last  be  first,  and  the  first  last.  And  it  is  not 
presumption  to  say,  that  God  will  apportion  the  visits  of  his  mercy 
to  the  aggregate  of  holiness  that  shall  operate  to  invite  down  his 
gracious  and  life-giving  influences.  How  forlorn,  then,  is  the  hope 
that  God  will  grant  seasons  of  refreshing  where  there  are  none  to 
pray  ;  and  will  give  a  new  heart  and  a  right  spirit  where  there  is 
no  house  of  Israel  to  inquire  of  him. 

Still,  when  men  are  the  most  deserted  as  to  spiritual  blessings 
God  may  allow  them  temporal  prosperity.  It  is  all  the  heaven  he 
will  give  them.  Men  may  prosper  most  when  they  are  nearest  de- 
struction. The  old  world  and  the  devoted  cities  were  never  more 
prosperous  than  when  their  last  sun  was  rising.  Men  may  be  ripe 
for  the  scythe  of  death,  their  cup  of  iniquity  full,  while  yet  their 
fields  wave  with  the  abundant  harvests,  the  atmosphere  is  fragrant 
with  the  odours  of  the  ripened  fruits  and  flowers,  and  echoes  with 
the  song  of  the  cheerful  laborer.  Men  often  perish  the  sooner  be- 
cause they  prosper.  Riches  increase,  and  they  set  their  hearts 
upon  them.  Any  people  who  become  rich  faster  than  they  become 
holy,  have  this  very  destiny  to  fear. 
9 


66  NOTHING   SAFE   BUT   THE   CHURCH. 

Inquire,  then,  brethren  in  Christ ,  what  is  the  extent  of  God's  in- 
heritance among  you  1  This  is  a  question  which  I  feel  willing  to 
press  upon  your  consciences  with  the  weight  of  a  world.  Answer 
it,  and  you  have  determined  the  extent  of  God's  regard  for  you, 
and  his  care  of  you.  The  number  of  real  believers,  and  the  pro- 
gress they  make  in  holiness,  are  the  facts  that  are  to  measure 
your  consequence  under  the  government  of  God.  I  know  this 
thought  exhibits  wealth,  and  birth,  and  talents,  as  comparatively 
of  little  worth,  and  is  humiliating  as  it  is  true.  God  is  not  attach- 
ed to  places  and  names  as  we  are,  but  to  holiness.  The  territory 
where  the  seven  churches  were,  and  even  where  the  Shechinah 
blazed,  God  has  forsaken :  and  he  will  treat  you  as  he  has  others. 
He  will  never  forsake  you  while  you  serve  him,  nor  your  children, 
if  they  are  holy,  nor  your  seed,  to  a  thousand  generations,  unless 
they  forsake  God.  They  that  despise  him  shall  be  lightly  esteem- 
ed ;  but  let  us  draw  near  to  him  and  he  will  draw  near  to  us. 

This  subject  is  calculated  to  comfort  pious  families.  If  we  aim 
to  render  our  children  holy,  God  will  build  us  up  a  sure  house  for 
ever.  The  poor  family,  who  walk  in  the  fear  of  God,  he  will  con- 
sider more  worthy  of  his  patronage  than  a  whole  community  of 
the  profane  and  the  proud.  He  will  not  command  that  house  to 
become  extinct  where  he  is  feared  and  worshipped.  The  angels 
will  pitch  their  tents  there,  and 

"  What  ills  their  heavenly  care  prevents, 
No  earthly  tongue  can  tell." 

If  God  be  for  us  who  can  be  against  us  1  if  he  resolve  to  prosper 
and  bless  us,  we  and  ours  shall  be  safe,  amid  every  storm  that 
blows.  No  plague  shall  come  nigh  thee. 

The  individual  believer  may  take  all  the  comfort  possible  from 
this  subject.  No  matter  what  his  station.  God  regards  the  pious 
slave  more  than  the  impious  master.  The  poor  widow  that  can 
pray,  and  is  happy  in  her  closet,  can  do  more  to  save  her  land, 
than  the  prayerless  monarch.  She  can  sit  down  calmly,  and  look 
at  the  gathering  tempest,  and  ask  her  Father  to  manage  and  con- 
trol its  violence.  We  shall  ever  find  that  thought,  so  beautifully 
expressed  by  the  poet,  true, 

"  The  soul  that 's  filled  with  virtue's  light, 
Shines  brightest  in  afflictions'  night : 
And  sees  in  darkness  beams  of  hope. 
Ill-tidings  never  can  surprise 
His  heart,  which  fixed  on  God  relies, 


NOTHING   SAFE   BTTT   THE   CHTTRCH.  67 

Though  waves  and  tempests  roar  around ; 

Safe  on  a  rock  he  sits,  and  sees 

The  shipwreck  of  his  enemies, 

And  all  their  hope  and  glory  drowned." 

But  finally  the  ungodly  are  not  so ;  but  are  like  the  chaff  which 
the  wind  driveth  away.  Shocking  indeed  beyond  all  description 
is  the  condition  of  that  man  whom  God  does  not  love,  and  for 
whose  happiness  he  will  make  no  provision.  He  may,  if  God's 
plan  permit,  enjoy  long  the  bounties  of  a  gracious  Providence,  but 
if  God  suffer  him  to  live,  and  makes  him  an  instrument  of  his  glo- 
ry, it  will  all  be  no  evidence  that  he  loves  him.  And  a  day  must 
soon  come,  when  he  will  know  his  own  character,  and  feel  all  the 
guilt,  and  shame,  and  misery  of  his  condition.  To  be  safe  or  hap- 
py, we  must  become  a  part  of  God's  inheritance,  and  have  a  cha- 
racter that  shall  interest  us  in  his  love.  The  sinner,  then,  who 
will  change  his  character,  may  wipe  away  his  tears  j  but  if  he  will 
continue  impenitent  and  unbelieving,  he  is  exhorted  to  be  afflict- 
ed, and  mourn,  and  weep. 


SERMON    III. 
PERDITION  A  DARK  SPOT  IN  THE  MORAL    LANDSCAPE. 

EZEKIEL    XVIII.   32. 

I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth,  saith  the  Lord  God. 

EVERY  other  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  must  be  compatible  with 
this  one.  God  has  done  enough  in  the  work  of  saving  sinners  from 
hell  to  show  beyond  controversy  that  he  cannot  delight  in  their 
blood.  The  covenant  of  redemption,  and  the  descent  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  tabernacle  in  the  flesh,  and  especially  his  death. on  the 
cross,  must  have  satisfied  even  devils  that  God  had  no  pleasure  in 
their  blood.  And  then,  when  God  gave  the  world  the  scriptures, 
and  directed  that  men  be  pressed  with  the  invitations  of  mercy, 
how  could  the  truth  of  the  text  be  doubted,  even  in  the  place  of 
torment  1  Shall  the  very  men  whose  way  to  hell  God  is  hedging 
up,  while  he  opens  before  them  the  portals  of  everlasting  life — 
shall  they  have  any  doubt  of  his  mercy  1  Every  Sabbath,  and 
every  offer  of  pardon  and  every  mercy  the  sinner  receives  from 
the  hands  of  God,  testify  to  his  unwillingness  to  destroy,  and  his 
willingness  to  save  lost  men. 

And  if,  on  the  other  hand,  because  sinners  are  abundantly  con- 
vinced that  God  is  merciful,  they  are  brought  to  doubt  whether  he 
is  holy  and  just  and  true,  is  there  not  an  assault  made  upon  the  Di- 
vine character,  which  no  ingenuous  being  would  be  willing  to  be 
charged  with  1  May  he  not  condemn  and  punish  the  unholy,  who 
will  not  repent,  while  yet  he  does  not  delight  in  the  death  of  a 
sinner  1 

In  all  governments,  divine  and  human,  the  laws  must  be  execut- 
ed, and  the  administration  of  justice  must  be  certain.  If  mercy 
interpose,  it  must  not  be  in  every  case,  else  the  law  loses  its  sanc- 
tions, and  the  motives  to  duty  are  lessened.  And  yet  in  every 
government,  there  may  be  compassion  the  most  warm  in  the  heart 
of  him  who  administers  justice.  Nor  will  any  thing  tend  so  much 
as  this  to  honor  the  law  and  the  government.  When  the  parent, 


PERDITION    A   DARK    SPOT   IN    THE    MORAL    LANDSCAPE.  69 

while  he  corrects  the  child,  weeps  over  him,  more  is  done  to  im- 
press his  conscience  with  a  sense  of  guilt  than  can  be  accomplish- 
ed by  any  other  means.  And  the  judge  who  finds  it  impossible  to 
suppress  his  tears,  while  he  reads  to  the  criminal  the  sentence  of 
death,  makes  a  deep  and  dreadful  impression  on  the  conscience  of 
the  culprit.  He  puts  on  his  chains  again  and  goes  to  his  dungeon 
a  sober-thinking  man. 

And  the  same  principle  must  operate  in  the  divine  government. 
God  has  assured  us  that  upon  some  he  inten4s  to  execute  the  full 
penalty  of  the  law.  And  yet  over  these  he  bends  with  a  sympathy 
indescribably  tender,  "  How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ]  how 
shall  I  deliver  thee,  Israel  ]  how  shall  I  make  thee  as  Admah,  how 
shall  I  set  thee  as  Zeboim  1  my  heart  is  turned  within  me,  my  re- 
pentings  are  kindled  together."  "  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou, 
at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  unto  thy  peace  ! 
but  now  they  are  hidden  from  thine  eyes."  Judgment  is  declared 
to  be  his  strange  work.  He  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  him 
that  dieth.  God  may  see  the  necessity  of  executing  his  law 
while  he  may  wish  there  had  not  been  that  necessity,  and  that  his 
kingdom  could  be  as  safe  and  happy  in  administering  mercy  as  in 
the  display  of  justice.  It  is  when  the  destruction  of  the  sinner  is 
viewed  in  itself,  separated  from  the  bearing  it  may  have  upon  the 
general  welfare  of  the  universe,  that  God  has  no  pleasure  in  it.  Of 
this  we  shall  be  satisfied  when  we  consider  what  is  implied  in  the 
ruin  of  a  soul. 

I.  It  is  painful  to  see  such  noble  affections  misplaced. — The  very 
spirit  that  falls  under  the  divine  condemnation,  and  goes  to  endure 
the  outer  darkness,  and  gnawing  worm,  is  capable  of  putting  forth 
the  best  affections.  The  sinner  was  created  capable  of  loving  the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  with  all  the  subjects  of  God's  holy 
kingdom,  his  law,  his  gospel,,  and  his  service.  True,  he  could  not 
have  comprehended  entirely  their  nature,  but  he  could  have  known 
enough  to  have  risen  to  the  most  ardent  glow  of  affection.  Though 
he  could  not  have  loved  as  angels  do,  could  not  have  glowed  with 
the  ardor  of  cherubim  and  seraphim,  yet  could  he  have  reached  a 
sublimity  of  holy  emotion  which  would  have  rendered  him  glorious 
in  their  eyes,  and  entitled  him  to  a  station  high  and  honorable 
among  the  hosts  of  heaven.  The  Savior  he  could  have  loved 
with  peculiar  affection,  such  as  angels  cannot  feel.  In  the  strain 
of  praise  which  told  of  dying  love,  they  would  have  yielded  him 
the  highest  note  ;  and  probably  when  ages  of  ages  had  given  him 


70  PERDITION    A   DARK   SPOT 

opportunity  to  improve  his  powers  in  the  salubrious  climes  of 
heaven,  there  might  have  appeared  far  less  difference  between  his 
powers  and  theirs  than  now,  and  eternity  might  at  length  have 
seen  him  rising  through  a  thousand  grades  till  he  had  filled  a  sta- 
tion by  their  side,  and  had  beamed  with  an  ardor  of  attachment 
not  inferior  to  theirs. 

But  these  noble  affections  are  all  misplaced.  Neither  God  nor 
the  holy  subjects  of  his  kingdom  have  any  share  in  his  affections. 
He  glows  with  no  pure  desire ;  he  sees  nothing  in  God,  nor  in 
what  he  loves,  that  in  his  account  has  any  worth.  That  which 
charms  the  angels  and  enraptures  all  the  holy  family  has  nothing 
in  it  that  can  move  one  affection.  His  own  polluted  self,  his  foul 
person  and  ruined  character,  engrosses  in  his  eye  all  the  loveliness 
in  the  universe.  He  can  hate  most  cordially  that  which  good 
beings  love.  He  calls  home  every  affection,  and  becomes  himself 
a  little  world,  engrossing  every  care,  every  wish,  and  every  hope. 
Thus  can  he  love  himself  supremely,  while  all  others  consider  him 
the  essence  of  deformity. 

Now  can  any  suppose  that  God  has  pleasure  in  seeing  such  no- 
ble affections  so  misplaced  1  Would  he  not  rather  delight  to  be 
their  object,  and  satisfy  their  immense  capacities  with  his  own 
immensity  ?  We  shall  be  still  more  deeply  impressed  with  the 
sentiment  of  the  text  on  reviewing  again  the  state  of  the  lost  sin- 
ner to  see 

II.  Such  keen  sensations  tortured. — When  God  shall  execute  his 
law  upon  the  sinner,  every  sense,  both  of  body  and  mind,  will  be- 
come an  inlet  of  misery.  The  body  will  be  fuel  for  the  flames, 
and,  if  we  can  learn  any  thing  from  Scripture,  will  welter  in  brim- 
stone and  fire  for  ever.  The  rich  man  lifts  up  his  eyes  in  hell, 
being  in  torment,  and  begs  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  his  tongue,  while 
between  him  and  heaven  there  is  an  .impassable  gulf.  We  read, 
"  that  they  shall  gnaw  their  tongues  for  pain,"  "  their  worm  shall 
not  die,  nor  their  fire  be  quenched." 

And  while  the  body  thus  suffers,  the  soul  will  be  the  inlet  of 
another  species  of  misery  not  less  dreadful.  It  will  be  subject  to 
envy,  wrath,  shame,  guilt,  disappointment,  and  despair.  And  all 
these  corroding  passions  will  live  commensurate  with  the  duration 
of  the  soul.  To  see  heaven  happy,  and  heaven  will  be  for  ever  happy, 
will  feed  the  flames  of  envy.  The  quarrel  continuing  between 
God  and  the  sinner  will  for  ever  produce  new  sensations  of  wrath. 
The  law  continuing  in  full  force,  with  all  its  dreadful  sanctions, 


IN    THE    MORAL    LANDSCAPE.  71 

will  fill  the  soul  with  guilt  that  can  never  abate,  and  this  guilt  will 
produce  correspondent  shame.  The  memory  alive  to  recollec- 
tion, will  perpetuate  the  sensation  of  disappointment,  while  the 
certainty  that  God  remains  unalterably  true,  will  render  despair 
eternal.  Thus  will  there  be  some  fuel  to  feed  the  flames  of  every 
passion,  while  these  passions  will  corrode  the  mind  and  fill  the 
whole  soul  with  misery. 

Every  new  inlet  of  light  will  kindle  anew  the  fires  of  the  pit, 
while,  till  the  judgment,  the  still  increasing  number  of  convicts 
will  exhibit  living  testimony  that  God  is  resolved  to  be  respected 
and  loved  by  all  his  intelligent  subjects,  or  treat  them  as  outlaws 
in  his  kingdom.  And  when  the  pit  shall  be  full,  and  every  cavern 
shall  ring  with  the  howlings  of  despair,  it  will  be  seen  that  just 
enough  are  lost  to  express  suitably  God's  everlasting  resentment 
of  sin,  "and  the  smoke  of  their  torment  shall  ascend  up  for 
ever  and  ever,"  as  a  living  testimony  of  his  unchangeable  holiness, 
justice,  and  truth.  At  their  dreadful  expense  the  righteous  will 
for  ever  cry  Hallelujah. 

Now  to  see  such  sensations  tortured  while  they  might  have 
been  the  inlets  of  pleasure  unspeakable,  must  be  a  sight  which 
can  have  nothing  in  it  calculated  to  please  Jehovah.  He  is  a  God 
of  tender  compassion ;  possesses  bowels  of  mercies.  God  feels 
when  his  creatures  suffer,  as  much  more  sensibly  than  we  feel  as 
his  heart  is  more  tender  an.d  his  soul  more  benevolent.  Hence  he 
is  represented  as  moved  by  the  entreaties  of  his  people,  and  is 
said  to  avenge  his  elect,  who  cry  day  and  night  unto  him.  •  How 
can  such  a  being  have  any  pleasure  in  the  miseries  of  the  damned  1 
But  when  we  see 

III.  Such  great  expectations  disappointed,  the  doctrine  of  the  text 
is  still  more  firmly  established.  The  sinner  on  whom  we  have 
fixed  our  eye,  was  born  perhaps  a  child  of  promise.  Over  his 
very  cradle  his  parents  planning  his  future  course,  imagined  that 
they  saw  opening  before  him  a  luminous  and  useful  track.  They 
assigned  him  first  earthly  distinctions,  and  then  a  crown  of  life. 
Perhaps  he  was  the  subject  of  many  prayers,  and  consequently  of 
many  hopes.  As  he  advanced  in  his  course  there  kindled  up  great 
expectations  in  his  own  breast ;  he  set  out  to  be  great  below  and 
greater  still  above.  Perhaps  his  early  life  promised  much,  and  his 
hopes  far  outwent  his  prospects.  His  friends  and  neighbors  had 
their  expectations  raised  it  may  be  to  an  amazing  height.  And  in 
the  mean  time  his  Maker,  (for  His  property  in  us  must  not  be  for- 


72  PERDITION    A    DARK    SPOT 

gotten)  had  a  right  to  calculate  on  his  future  usefulness  and  great- 
ness. He  had  made  him  a  noble  spirit,  furnished  him  with  abun- 
dant light  and  means,  and  watched  his  opening  genius  with  more 
than  paternal  solicitude.  He  had  formed  him  fit  for  the  noblest 
service,  and  why  had  he  not  a  right  to  calculate  on  his  future 
greatness  1  I  do  not  mean  that  God  could  be  disappointed  or 
could  be  grieved,  in  the  sense  that  we  may,  but  the  Scriptures  do 
warrant  us  to  say  in  reference  to  a  case  like  this,  "  It  repented 
God  that  he  had  made  man  upon  the  earth  and  it  grieved  him  to 
his  very  heart."  How  dreadful  that  man  should  so  conduct  him- 
self as  to  extort  a  sigh  like  this  from  the  bosom  of  his  Maker, 
thus,  as  it  were,  defeating  the  great  end  of  his  being,  and  laying 
prostrate  ^very  hope  that  hung  upon  his  existence. 

Now  view  the  man  in  misery,  and  see  all  these  expectations 
lost,  and  for  a  moment  weep  over  him.  He  meant  to  wear  a 
crown,  but  found  a  halter ;  he  aspired  to  a  throne,  but  reached  a 
gibbet ;  he  hoped  for  heaven,  but  sunk  to  hell.  He  intended  to 
be  an  heir  of  God,  but  inherited  everlasting  burnings.  He  aspired 
to  become  an  angel  of  light,  but  became  a  fiend  of  darkness. 
How  dreadful  to  see  such  hopes  withered,  such  reasonable  expec- 
tations blighted  by  the  frosts  of  the  second  death.  How  can  there 
be  in  such  an  object  any  thing  that  can  fill  the  heart  of  God  with 
pleasure  1  Were  it  the  seat  of  malevolence  instead  of  mercy,  it 
could  hardly  fail  to  weep  over  such  costly  ruins.  The  unexpected 
extinction  of  a  thousand  suns  would  not  exhibit  equal  hopes  ex- 
tinguished. God  could  light  a  thousand  more,  and  thus  repair 
the  breach ;  but  souls  he  never  will  annihilate,  nor  build  again 
their  ruins  ;  then  how  can  God  have  any  pleasure  in  the  death  of 
him  that  dieth  1 

IV.  We  contemplate  him  again  with,  still  deeper  regret  to  see  such, 
useful  talents  lost. — View  some  great  man  now  in  torment.  While 
on  earth,  his  spirit,  although  cumbered  with  a  dying  body,  ex- 
hibited amazing  enterprise.  He  could  count  the  stars  and  measure 
the  diameter  and  distance  of  every  planet.  He  could  conceive 
the  noblest  projects,  and  trace  to  its  final  result  every  enterprise. 
Now  free  such  avsoul  from  its  cumbrous  clay,  give  it  angel's 
wings,  light  well  its  track,  let  its  powers  grow  and  enlarge  through 
eternity,  and  what  could  it  not  achieve  1  Conceive  of  Locke  or 
Newton  now  in  hell,  after  exploring  every  labyrinth  of  the  moral 
and  the  physical  world.  Or  if  men  so  heavenly  in  contemplation 
may  not  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  hell ;  think  of  Hume, 


IN   THE    MORAL   LANDSCAPE.  73 

and  Voltaire,  and  Bolingbroke,  men  of  noble  minds,  but  who 
hated  the  Son  of  God.  See  them  in  torment.  Had  they  been,  as 
good  as  they  were  great,  how  useful !  And  must  their  gigantic 
minds  dwindle  to  the  stature  of  a  dwarf,  and  only  be  to  be  de- 
graded 1  What  a  pity !  What  an  evil !  What  a  loss  !  What  a 
loss  to  themselves!  Their  greatness  but  prepares  them  to  be 
miserable,  while  it  might  have  made  them  happy.  What  a  loss  to 
all  heaven  !  There  their  noble  spirits  would  have  found  employ- 
ments suited  to  their  nature.  What  noble  projects  of  holy  ambi- 
tion might  they  have  originated !  What  inspiration  might  such 
spirits  have  breathed  into  the  songs  of  heaven !  What  new  dis- 
coveries of  God  and  truth  might  they  have  made  in  the  clear  light 
of  that  celestial  world !  What  anthems  might  they  have  invented ! 
What  strains  of  hallelujah !  How  a  soul,  so  noble  in  its  structure, 
could  swell  and  sweeten  the  music  of  the  heavenly  choir  !  Ima- 
gine it  redeemed  from  hell,  and  joined  to  the  choir  of  heaven,  as 
a  soft  sweet  viol,  tuned  to  please  an  angel's  ear,  and  swelling  every 
note  it  sings  to  the  sweetest,  softest  melody,  and  what  a  pity,  that 
such  a  viol  should  be  converted  into  fuel,  and  feed  the  fires  of  the 
pit.  And  if  you  suppose  every  spirit  of  equal  dimension,  and 
differing  only  in  the  structure  of  its  clay  organs ;  then  suppose 
that  the  ten  thousands  who  have  gone  to  despair  are  ransomed 
and  joined  as  so  many  well-tuned  instruments  to  the  music  of  that 
happy  world,  and  what  a  revenue  of  praise  would  redound  to  God ! 
Who  can  view  the  subject  in  this  light  and  not  feel  pained  that 
souls  must  perish  1  "  Oh  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine 
eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the 
slain  of  the  daughter  of  my  people."  Oh,  the  cursed  tragedy  of 
the  fall,  which  placed  noble  spirits  where  they  are  utterly  lost. 
For  they  can  be  of  no  use  to  each  other  in  the  place  of  misery. 
"  Though  hand  join  in  hand,  the  wicked  shall  not  go  unpunished." 
Were  there  accumulated  in  hell  all  the  noblest  talents  of  the 
created  universe,  they  could  not  escape  the  hand  of  justice.  iThey 
could  neither  bridge  the  gulf  that  partitions  hell  from  heaven,  nor 
extinguish  the  fires  that  consume  them.  So  satisfied  of  this  was 
the  rich  man,  that  he  begged  he  might  never  see  his  brethren  in 
that  place  of  torment.  If,  then,  the  noblest  talents  would  be  use- 
less in  hell,  and  could  be  so  well.employed  in  heaven,  what  a  loss 
is  the  damnation  of  a  soul !  And  why  will  not  the  loss,  although 
it  would  have  been  a  greater  loss  to  save  them,  impenitent,  be  felt 
forever  1  If  any  government  should  be  under  the  necessity  of 
imprisoning  for  life  its  noblest  geniuses,  would  not  the  loss  be 
10 


74  PERDITION    A    DARK   SPOT 

felt  and  be  deplored  by  the  very  monarch  who  barred  their  prison  1 
Yes,  and  God  will  be  sensible  forever  of  the  loss  of  talents  in  per- 
dition, and  will  forever  view  that  world  as  a  dark  spot  in  his  crea- 
tion, although  rendering  the  remainder  more  beautiful.  How  then 
can  he  have  any  pleasure  at  all  in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth  1 
And  we  shall  be  convinced  of  this  truth  when  we  have  taken  one 
more  view  of  the  lost  sinner,  and  see 

V.  Such  a  noble  vessel  polluted.  He  was  calculated  to  be  a  vessel 
of  honor,  prepared  unto  glory,  and  might  have  been  the  everlast- 
ing recipient  of  eternal  mercy.  How  largely  might  he  have  re- 
ceived the  overflowings  of  infinite  benevolence !  And  if  the  soul 
had  perpetually  enlarged,  and  been  kept  full  of  love,  and  joy,  and 
peace,  what  a  rich  and  lovely  treasure  would  such  a  spirit  have 
been !  Angels  would  pay  respect  to  such  a  soul,  and  God  himself 
would  be  pleased.  But  the  vessel  is  polluted.  "  The  gold  has 
become  dim  and  the  most  fine  gold  changed."  If  you  should  see 
a  golden  goblet  filled  with  the  defilements  of  a  sink,  how  incon- 
gruous !  how  repulsive  to  the  sight !  But  how  much  more  dis- 
gusting to  see  a  heaven-born  soul  filled  with  the  corruptions  of 
sin !  If  it  should  be  our  destiny  to  be  lost  we  shall  be  forever  dis- 
gusted at  ourselves ;  and  angels  and  God  will  view  us  with  eternal 
loathing ;  devils,  our  companions  in  misery,  will  despise  us  and 
themselves  much  more.  The  lost  spirit  will  be  the  most  filthy 
object  in  the  universe.  God  will  be  for  ever  happy,  but  his  joy, 
his  life,  his  pleasure,  must  be  in  other  objects ;  and  if  the  deity 
may  not  be  pained,  so  neither  may  he  be  pleased  with  the  scenes 
of  the  pit  5  and  will  he  not  cover  it  with  a  cloud  of  smoke  which 
shall  obscure  its  defilements  from  the  vision  of  the  blessed  1 

REMARKS. 

1.  God  will  not  damn  any  who  do  not  oblige  him  to  do  so 
in  order  to  secure  the  honor  of  his  name  and  kingdom :  judg- 
ment is  his  strange  work.  If  he  takes  no  pleasure  at  all  in  the 
death  of  him  that  dieth,  how  can  we  believe  that  any  will  per- 
ish whose  eternal  ruin  is  not  necessary  to  show  the  justice,  the 
truth,  and  the  holiness  of  God,  to  vindicate  his  law,  or  honor  his 
government  1  None,  then,  of  my  readers  will  perish  but  such  as 
make  themselves  vile,  and  continue  obstinately  disobedient,  resist- 
ing the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  till  God  gives  them  up  to 
their  own  hearts'  lusts,  and  swears  in  his  wrath  that  they  shall  not 


IN   THE   MORAL   LANDSCAPE.  75 

enter  into  his  rest.     And  even  such  he  will  spare  as  long  as  the 
good  of  his  holy  kingdom  will  permit. 

2.  Hence  we  see  why  sinners  who  will  finally  be  lost  are  so  long 
kept  out  of  hell.     God  abhors  the  work   of  destruction,  and  will 
spare  them  till  there  is  no  hope  of  their  repentance,  and  even 
when  hope  is  gone,  may  spare  them  still,  unless  the  good  of  his 
kingdom  require  their  immediate  destruction.     And  I  know  not 
that  any  sacred  text  has  assured  us  that  sinners  shall  perish  as 
soon  as  they  are  given  over  to  hardness  of  heart  and  blindness  of 
mind.     The  probability  is  that  they  are  spared  longer,  that  God 
may  appear  infinitely  gracious  while  he  destroys  them. 

3.  He  not  only  spares  them,  but  follows  them  with  the  invita- 
tions of  his  mercy.     He  gives  them  line  upon   line  and  precept 
upon  precept.     Minister  after  minister  is  raised  up  to  proclaim  to 
them  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.     He   stands  and  pleads 
with  them   "  till  his  head  is  wet  with  the  dew  and  his  locks  with 
the  drops  of  the  night."     He  seems  reluctant  to  destroy  them,  and 
so  varies  the  means  and  arguments  that  urge  them  to  repentance. 
He  tries  every  gracious  method  to  move  them,   sends  judgments 
and  mercies,  and,  when  all  means  have  failed  and  they  are  joined 
to  their  idols,  he  lets  them  alone. 

4.  No  more  will  finally  be  lost  than  is  absolutely  necessary. 
No  more  than  just  enough  to  clear  his  character  from  impeach- 
ment, and  his  law  and  government  from  reproach. 

5.  There  must  be  something  very  odious  in  sin,  since  God  so 
abhors  it,  that  he  will  destroy  men  who  do  not  repent  of  it  and 
are  not  sanctified,   although  he  hates  the  work  of  destruction. 
While  we  thus  see  the  heart  of  God  moved  with  compassion  for 
perishing  men,  and  as  it  were  grieving  at  the  necessity  of  exe- 
cuting upon  them  the  rigors  of  his  law,  and  yet  determined  upon 
that  execution,  it  seems  forever  to  settle  the  question,  that  "  sin 
is  that  abominable  thing  which  his  soul  hateth."     For  that  some 
will  perish  after  all  that  has  appeared  of  the  divine  compassion, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.     Divine  veracity  is  pledged  for  the  de- 
struction of  all  those  "  that  know  not  God,  and  obey  not  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."     And  the  divine  character  must  suffer, 
if  finally  the  whole  human  family  should  be  saved.     Hence  every 
honest  man,  as  he  reads  his  Bible,  is  there  taught  to  expect  an 
event,  which,  undesirable  as  it  may  be  in  itself,  is  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  obstinacy  of  sinners.     And  if  it  should  be  inquired, 
Why  does  not  God  save  all  by  sanctifying  their  hearts  1    we  can 
only  answer,  "  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth  good  in  thy 


76  PERDITION    A    DARK   SPOT 

sight."  Perhaps  the  excellency  of  the  law  could  never  be  so  fully 
seen  as  in  the  destruction  of  sinners,  and  perhaps  heaven  could 
never  he  so  happy,  were  not  its  joys  contrasted  with  the  miseries 
of  the  second  death.  Be  these  things  as  they  may,  it  is  evidently 
the  purpose  of  God,  that,  in  the  ruin  of  the  lost,  sin  shall  show  its 
odious  nature  as  it  never  did  before.  It  has  compelled  Jehovah 
to  kindle  the  fires  of  tophet,  and  as  he  shall  be  seen  to  feed  their 
flames  for  ever,  that  he  may  suitably  express  his  abhorrence  of  sin, 
there  will  be  none  in  all  the  universe  who  will  question  its  odious- 
ness.  As  much  as  men  love  sin  now,  they  will  yet  be  brought  to 
see  that  it  is  a  viper  whose  fangs  convey  death  to  the  soul.  And 
it  will  yet  appear  hateful  even  to  the  lost. 

6.  The  weakest  saint  need  not  fear  but  that  God  will  bring  him 
to  heaven.     Justice  will  not  require  him  to  condemn  any  of  his 
people,  and  he  will  condemn  no  more  than  is  necessary — no  more 
than  justice  requires.     Not  one  that  has  ever  believed  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  need  have  any  apprehension  that  he  will  be  lost. 
God  will  find  enough  who  have  rejected  the  Savior  to  the  last  to 
answer  in  their  destruction  all  the  purposes  of  his  vindictive  justice. 

7.  We  need  have  no  apprehensions  that  any  decree  of  God  will 
keep  men  out  of  heaven,  who  are  willing  to  comply  with  his  terms 
of  salvation.     God  has  always  felt  as  he  felt  in  the  days  of  Eze- 
kiel.     If  so,  there  never  was  a  time  when  he  could  make  any  cruel 
decree  that  will  now  oblige  him  to  do  what  his  soul  abhors.     His 
decrees  secure  the  salvation  of  as  many  as  it  will  comport  with 
the  best  good  of  his  kingdom  to  save.     Hence  none  need  be  afraid 
to  believe  lest  some  decree  of  God  should  still  cut  them  off  from 
life.     Indeed  the   decrees  of  heaven  are  the  purposes  of   love. 
Had  there  been  no  purposes  of  election  he  must  have  condemned 
all  our  race.     To  prevent  this  he  resolved  to  make  some  willing 
in  the  day  of  his  power. 

8.  As  it  is  a  fact  revealed,  that  some  will  perish,  and  as  their 
ruin  is  a  thing  in  which  God  takes  no  pleasure  ;  and  as  we  cannot 
doubt  but  that  God  will  still  be  for  ever  happy,  so  we  see  that  his 
people  may  for  ever  sing  and  rejoice,  while  they  shall  know  that 
some  of  their  fellow-men  are  for  ever  miserable,  and'  shall  see  the 
smoke  of  their  torment  ascending  up  for  ever  and  ever.     With  the 
limited  views  we  have  now  it  would  seem  that  it  must  make  us 
unhappy  ;  but  the  saved  will  see  more  clearly  than  we  can  at  pre- 
sent the  necessity  of  those  dreadful  measures,  and  they  will  not 
wish  nor  dare  to  suppress  their  hallelujahs. 

They  will  not  be  destitute  of  sympathy,  nor  look  even  with  cold 


IN   THE   MORAL   LANDSCAPE.  77 

indifference  at  the  miseries  of  the  lost,  but  so  supremely  will  they 
regard  the  glory  of  God,  and  so  distinctly  will  they  see  the  neces- 
sity of  vindictive  punishments  that  they  will  he  satisfied. 

And  now  will  not  this  subject  urge  sinners  to  repentance  ?  If 
God,  in  view  of  the  worth  of  the  soul,  is  so  unwilling  to  destroy 
it,  and  yet  will  proceed  to  destroy  if  men  will  not  repent,  then 
they  ought  to  repent.  He  will  surely  reverse  the  doom  of  all  who 
do  repent.  He  is  waiting  on  sinners  that  they  may  save  him  the 
necessity  of  destroying  them.  He  will  be  glad,  then,  to  see  the 
prodigal  turning  his  eye  towards  his  father's  house,  and  will  haste 
to  meet  him,  and  will  pardon  him  and  love  him.  He  will  be  glad 
to  make  you  happy.  He  has  no  pleasure  in  your  destruction,  but 
will  be  glad  and  happy  in  your  salvation.  He  has  always  been 
blessed,  since  there  were  creatures,  in  making  them  blessed,  and 
will  be  as  joyful  in  blessing  you  as  he  has  been  in  blessing  others. 

9.  How  infatuated  is  the  inference  that  men  of  .corrupt  minds 
have  drawn  from  these  expressions  of  the  divine  compassion  ;  that 
since  God  does  not  delight  in  the  destruction  of  sinners,  he  will 
destroy  none  !  He  has  asserted  the  contrary  ;  that  some  shall  go 
away  into  outer  darkness,  where  is  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth  ; 
that  the  smoke  of  their  torments  shall  ascend  up  for  ever  and  ever  j 
that  their  worm  shall  not  die,  nor  their  fire  be  quenched ;  that 
where  Christ  is  they  can  never  come  ;  that  it  had  been  better  for 
them  if  they  had  never  been  born  ;  that  they  shall  depart  accursed 
into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  Still, 
having  asserted  that  he  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked, 
they  will  believe  that  his  threatenings  mean  nothing  ;  that  he  will 
falsify  his  truth  to  gratify  his  mercy ;  will  let  his  word,  and  his 
law,  and  his  honor  perish,  because  he  does  not  delight  to  make  his 
creatures  miserable.  That  system  of  universal  salvation  thus  built 
professedly  on  ttie  mercy  of  God  is  the  most  impious  system  that 
the  enemy  of  souls  has  ever  fabricated ;  oh,  it  is  the  cold  and 
bloody  climax  of  depravity ;  it  offers  to  God  an  open  insult ;  it 
would  turn  his  own  truth  against  himself,  and  breed  confusion  and 
war  in  his  own  councils. 


SERMON    IV. 
THE    SANCTUARY. 

PSALM   XX.    I,   2. 

The  Lord  hear  thee  In  the  day  of  trouble ;  the  name  of  the  God  of  Jacob  defend  thee,  send 
thee  help  from  the  sanctuary  and  Btrenghen  thee  out  of  Zion. 

THE  house  of  God  is  the  emblem  of  all  the  divine  institutions. 
With  its  prosperity  has  ever  been  identified  the  blessedness  of 
that  community  who  have  made  it  their  rallying  point.  It  told  the 
state  of  Israel  under  the  varied  scenes  of  prosperity  and  adversity. 
When  its  treasury  was  full  and  its  altars  in  repair,  and  the  daily 
sacrifices  were  offered,  and  the  court  was  guarded  from  pollution, 
and  the  priests  consecrated  themselves,  and  the  tribes  came  up^ 
the  tribes  of  the  Lord  to  the  testimony  of  Israel,  then  it  went  well 
with  the  people  of  God.  But  when  the  devoted  house  of  prayer 
was  made  a  den  of  thieves,  and  the  Levites  had  gone  every  one  to 
his  field,  and  the  buyer  and  seller,  and  the  money-changers  occu- 
pied the  consecrated  sanctuary,  then  had  the  glory  departed. 

And  in  all  the  ages  since  in  lands  where  the  true  God  is  known, 
if  at  a  single  glance  one  would  learn  the  state  of  any  people,  let 
him  follow  the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell  and  look  into  thqir 
sanctuary.  There  he  can  read  their  condition  in  unequivocal 
lines.  I  would  lie  without  a  roof  to  cover  me,  and  make  my  bed 
in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  but  must  find  my  way  to  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  and  fix  my  dying  grasp  on  the  horns  of  his  altar.  All  that 
is  thriving  and  healthful  in  any  section  of  Christendom  is  suspend- 
ed on  the  interest  taken  in  the  house  of  God  ;  and  if  things  are 
not  prosperous,  and  men  would  see  their  captivity  brought  back, 
they  must  seek  their  help  in  the  sanctuary,  and  be  strengthened 
out  of  Zion.  God  is  the  only  source  of  their  help  and  their  salva- 
tion. They  may  try  all  other  means  first,  as  many  a  wretched 
people  have  done,  but  they  will  only  pine  away  in  their  bondage 
till  they  build  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

But  why — inquires  that  multitude,  who  have  no  confidence  in 


THE   SANCTUARY.  79 

the  over-ruling  providence  of  a  wise  and  holy  God — why  must 
help  come  from  the  sanctuary  1     I  answer, 

I.  It  is  the  place  where  God's  honor  dwells.  When  Israel  would 
have  the  help  and  guidance  of  Jehovah  they  made  application  at 
the  temple  where  his  glory  was  seen  in  the  holy  place,  and  where 
he  had  appointed  to  respond  to  their  supplications. 

If  famine,  or  war,  or  pestilence  preyed  upon  them,  their  imme- 
diate resort  was  to  the  temple.  I  know  that  under  the  gospel  dis- 
pensation there  is  less  of  the  visible  and  the  tangible  in  religion, 
than  in  the  times  of  Israel,  yet  is  there  none  the  less  of  the  reali- 
ty. We  have  as  firm  an  assurance,  as  had  the  ancient  church,  that 
God  is  present  with  his  people,  and  fills  the  sanctuary  with  his 
glory,  and  that  we  may  with  the  same  assurance  apply  for  help  at 
the  place  where  his  honor  dwells.  And  where  is  that  place 
found  rather  than  where  his  gospel  is  proclaimed,  and  his  people 
congregated,  and  his  ordinances  administered,  and  his  everlasting 
covenant  ratified  with  his  chosen,  and  his  sanctifying  Spirit  sent 
down  to  cleanse  and  to  purify  1  What  place  can  he  favor  more  1 
Where  make  a  richer  deposite  of  his  glory  ?  Where  rather  lend 
a  propitious  ear  to  the  cries  of  his  people  ?  At  hi&  sanctuary  we 
may  calculate  to  meet  with  God,  and  the  people  who  cut  them- 
selves off  from  that  holy  place  can  expect  no  help  in  their  straits 
and  their  distresses.  Had  some  wayward  tribes  of  Israel  refused 
to  have  any  connection  with  the  tabernacle  and  the  temple,  that 
tribe  must  have  been  without  any  light  or  guidance  from  Heaven 
The  history  of  the  ten  tribes  is  in  proof.  Refusing  to  repair  to  the 
place  where  God  had  appointed  to  meet  them  he  met  them  no- 
where, would  not  respond  to  their  cries,  or  guide  them  in  the  day  of 
trouble.  They  wandered  in  darkness  as  the  blind  grope  at  noon- 
day. 

And  wherein  is  the  case  altered  now  1  The  people  who  forsake 
the  sanctuary,  or  leave  others  to  sustain  and  enjoy  its  worship,  are 
without  God  and  without  hope  in  the  world,  and  their  conduct  will 
soon  tell  on  their  character  and  their  condition.  There  will  some 
plague  await  them  that  will  be  entailed  to  their  children,  and  por- 
tray their  folly  at  an  hour  too  late  perhaps  for  mem  to  become 
wise.  When  the  captives  hanged  their  harps  upon  the  willows  of 
Babylon,  they  remembered  the  sanctuary,  how  things  prospered 
with  them,  when  the  "  tribes  went  up,  the  tribes  of  the  Lord,  to 
the  testimony  of  Israel."  But  thev  had  neglected  the  institutions 


80  THE    SANCTUARY. 

of  Heaven  too  long,  and  the  decree  had  gone  out  that  most  of  that 
generation  should  die  in  their  bondage.  The  enemy  had  been 
advertised  of  their  mistake,  and  tauntingly  said,  "  Sing  us  one  of 
Zion's  songs."  And  their  desponding  reply,  "  How  shall  we  sing 
the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land,"  portrays  the  misery  of  that 
people  in  gospel  times  that  go  not  for  help  to  the  sanctuary.  They 
must  waste  away  in  their  miseries,  till  they  shall  know  and  their 
children  after  them,  how  terribly  God  can  avenge  himself  on  his 
enemies. 

II.  The  house  of  God  is  the  place  of  united  and  fervent  prayer. 
We  hazard  nothing  in  saying,  that  all  who  pray  meet  there.  Such 
cannot  voluntarily  and  habitually  absent  themselves  from  the  place 
where  God  has  appointed  to  meet  them,  and  hold  communion  with 
them.  And  they  come  to  pray  and  unite  their  prayers,  and  the 
promise  of  God  is,  that  whatever  they  shall  ask  it  shall  be  done  for 
them. 

The  infidel  only  will  doubt,  whether  prayer  has  efficacy.  God's 
promise  to  hear,  and  the  believing  assurance  that  God  has  heard 
him  in  the  time  accepted,  and  in  the  day  of  salvation  has  succored 
him,  begets  confidence  in  the  use  of  prayer.  And  its  increased 
efficacy,  when  united  and  fervent,  and  the  assurance  tha*  it  will 
have  unity  and  fervency  in  the  sanctuary,  point  out  that  place  as 
the  source  of  their  help  in  the  hour  of  danger  and  of  suffering. 
Any  privilege  but  the  immediate  smiles  of  God,  I  would  dispense 
with  sooner  than  have  no  share  in  the  prayers  of  God's  people 
offered  in  the  holy  place.  I  would  be  without  the  means  of  self- 
defence,  without  the  protection  of  law,  and  without  a  shelter  for 
my  head  at  night,  but  should  not  dare  to  be  cut  off  from  an  inter- 
est in  the  prayers  of  the  sanctuary.  Let  no  shower  or  dew  fall 
on  my  territory,  or  breeze  fan  my  habitation,  or  genial  sun  warm 
me  ;  but  let  me  not  be  excluded  from  the  health-bearing  influence 
of  the  house  of  prayer.  Others  can  go  to  their  farms  or  their 
merchandise,  or  their  journeys,  or  their  book-keeping  on  the 
Lord's  day,  and  let  the  prayers  of  the  sanctuary  go.  But  if  there 
does  not  come  a  blight  over  their  fading  hopes,  and  they  do  not 
find  that  moth  and  rust  corrupt  their  treasures,  then  we  have  mis- 
taken the  ways  of  God.  We  shall  watch  to  see  what  destiny 
overtakes  their  property  and  their  children  after  the  lapse  of  a 
few  years.  If  facts  may  testify,  the  interests  of  the  present  life 
as  well  as  the  life  to  come,  depend  on  the  identity  we  establish 
between  them  and  the  supplications  of  the  house  of  prayer.  The 


THE    SANCTUARY.  81 

prompt  and  faithful  supporter  and  constant  attendant  upon  the 
sanctuary  may  calculate  to  prosper.  "Them  that  honor  me  I 
will  honor."  The  less  frequent  attendance  and  the  less  prompt 
and  generous  support  may  be  associated  with  a  kind  of  paralysed 
and  stationary  prosperity.  "  To  the  froward  thou  wilt  show  thy- 
self froward."  The  entire  neglect  will  be  the  harbinger  of  dark- 
ness and  decay.  "  They  that  despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteem- 
ed." Neither  prosperity  nor  character  are  sure  where  there  is 
wanting  the  guardianship  of  prayer.  Not  the  pointed  rod  which 
turns  away  the  lightnings,  answers  a  purpose  more  kind,  in  the 
natural,  than  prayer  in  the  moral  world. 

III?  The  house  of  God  is  the  radiant  point  of  sanctifying  truth. 
It  was  the  prayer  of  the  Lord  Jesus  for  the  destined  heirs  of  sal- 
vation, "Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth."     And  God  has  re- 
vealed it  as  his  purpose,  "  By  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save 
them  that  believe,"     Hence  from  the  lips  of  the  living  preacher  go 
out  those  doctrines  that  operate  to  sanctify  the  hearts  of  men. 
And  who  dare  hope  that  society  can  prosper,  where  no  hearts  are 
sanctified  *     "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."     A  whole  unregene- 
rate  family  constitutes  a  very  dark  house,  where  insubordination 
kindles  many  a  fire ;  and  a  town,  or  county,  or  state,  where  there 
were  none  regenerated,  would  be  an  unmanageable  community. 
Society  owes  more  than  it  will  acknowledge  to  the  influence  of 
piety.     It  lays  upon  men  a  restraint  even  where  the  number  of  the 
pious  is  small,  that  is  productive  of  more  peace  and  order  and 
prosperity,  than  all  other  means  combined.     Survey  those  lands, 
where  no  sanctifying  religion  operates  to  mould  the  manners,  and 
fix  the  principles,  and  restrain   the   passions   of  ungodly  men. 
They  are  desolated.     The  passions  excited,  with  no  power  present 
to  tame  or  restrain  them,  spread  a  destruction  wide  and  wasteful 
as  human  power  can  generate.     After  this  survey,  if  you  do  not 
feel  glad  that  your  lot  is  cast   into  a  gospel  land,  then  will  we 
abandon  the  argument  and  help  you  lay  the  temple  prostrate.     At 
one  glance  you  will  see  a  religion  that  eats  up  its  population  like 
a  pestilence.     At  another  you  will  see  prevailing  falsehood,  and 
fraud,  and  theft,  till  no  man  sees  another  in  whom  he  places  con- 
fidence.    Domestic  happiness,  and  conjugal  fidelity,  and  parental 
and  filial  regard,  are  things  for  which  their  language  has  not  a 
name.     And  everywhere  where  the  gospel  is  not,  there  prevails  a 
government  that  rules  with  a  sceptre  of  iron;     The  hardest  des- 
potism is  rendered  necessary  by  the  absence  of  moral  restraints 
11 


82  THE    SANCTUARY. 

If  piety  must  be  or  misery,  there  must  be  that  truth  which  sanctifies, 
and  the  sanctuary  whence  that  truth  issues.  Throw  prostrate  the 
altar  of  God,  and  there  will  be  no  power  found  that  can  sustain 
the  sanctifying  doctrines  of  revelation.  "  What  God  hath  joined 
together  let  no  man  put  asunder."  The  house  of  God  ever  has 
been  and  must  be  the  grand  receptacle  of  light  from  heaven,  and 
thence  it  issues  to  restrain  the  passions,  and  mould  the  manners, 
and  repair  with  the  divine  blessing  the  ruins  of  the  apostacy. 

IV.  The  instruction  of  God's  house  is  the  grand  agent  in  the  for- 
mation of  public  sentiment. 

I  now  refer  to  an  influence  that  goes  out  from  that  holy  place, 
to  affect  all  men,  whether  they  will  or  will  not  be  controlled  by 
that  influence.  To  the  ungodly,  public  sentiment  is  an  irresistible 
law.  You  could  bind  the  thief  and  the  robber  by  it.  Surround 
them  with  only  purity  of  sentiment,  and  you  would  make  them 
honest.  No  man  can  habitually  do  what  all  about  him  disapprove. 
The  most  depraved  would  be  perfectly  wretched,  embosomed  in  a 
holy  community,  till  they  could  break  from  their  prison,  and  find 
some  fastness  in  the  mountains,  where  they  could  associate  with 
men  of  their  own  stamp.  Human  laws  are  weak  and  inoperative, 
but  as  they  are  sustained  by  public  sentiment ;  murder  is  com- 
mitted with  impunity  in  those  lands  where  a  public  depraved  sen- 
timent is  stronger  than  law.  I  would  not  give  a  straw  for  that 
defence  that  law  holds  out  in  the  absence  of  a  correct  public 
opinion  to  sustain  it.  And  there  is  no  means  powerful  like  the 
house  of  God  in  the  formation  of  that  opinion.  There  issue  thence 
not  merely  the  doctrines  that  sanctify,  but  the  sub-principles  that 
moralize,  and  mould,  and  restrain  the  public  mind.  And  this  in- 
fluence it  exerts  not  merely  upon  the  sabbath  assembly,  but  the 
men  that  despise  the  control  of  principles  that  either  God  or  man 
can  enforce.  The  men  who  attend  the  sanctuary  bear  out  into 
society  and  act  out  in  their  deportment  its  principles  \  and  others 
catch  the  moralizing  influence  and  spread  it  wider  and  still  wider 
over  the  surface  of  an  apostate  and  degenerate  community,  till  the 
whole  mass  is  leavened.  Hence  that  portion  of  society  which 
stand  aloof  from  the  house  of  God,  and  perhaps  gnash  their  teeth 
at  its  holy  solemnities,  are  blessed  through  its  influence.  It  bears 
obliquely  upon  them,  but  is  mighty  like  no  other  law  they  listen 
to.  It  gives  them  indirectly  all  their  civil  privileges,  the  peace- 
able possession  of  their  rights,  security  of  life  and  exemption  from 
midnight  depredations  and  from  hourly  oppressions.  It  sets  a 


THE    SANCTUARY.  83 

watch  about  them  at  the  expense  of  others,  a  watch  which  they 
should  be  ashamed  to  let  their  fellow-men  sustain  alone,  but  with- 
out which  society  would  be  a  den  of  thieves.  When  we  say  of 
any  one  that  he  is  a  shameless  fellow,  what  more  can  we  say  to 
give  him  the  lowest  character  1  But  to  become  shameless,  what 
is  it  but  to  hold  public  sentiment  in  utter  contempt  1  It  is  this 
that  keeps  our  world  from  becoming  a  shameless  community,  and 
for  this  kind  guardian  of  our  best  earthly  interests  every  man  is 
indebted  to  the  sanctuary. 

V.  The  house'  of  God  sustains  all  the  other  civilizing  and  health- 
ful institutions.  Identified  with  it  are  a  preached  gospel  and  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation.  These  all  sustain  each  other.  And 
hence  the  sin  of  disturbing,  with  controversy  and  disunion,  a 
regular  sanctuary-going  people,  is  one  of  no  ordinary  magnitude. 
The  Sabbath,  too,  is  sustained  by  the  sanctuary.  When  or  where 
was  there  ever  a  Sabbath  kept  by  a  people  who  were  regardless 
of  the  public  worship  of  God  1  Will  there  be  a  Sabbath  in  the 
private  circle,  where  there  is  no  solemn  Sabbath-keeping  assembly, 
and  the  inspiration  of  the  church-going  bell  is  not  felt  1  No,  no. 
Trace  the  world  over,  and  no  such  thing  can  be  found.  If  men 
tarry  at  home,  they  will  be  about  their  secular  concerns,  and  the 
day  will  be  amalgamated  with  the  days  not  sanctified.  Hence  in 
those  lately  dark  places  of  the  earth,  where  they  have  recently 
got  up  a  Sabbath,  they  have  simultaneously  erected  them  a  sanc- 
tuary, and  the  one  sustains  the  other.  And  all  the  means  of  edu- 
cation stand  on  the  same  basis.  Schools,  academies  and  colleges 
owe  their  very  existence  to  their  connection  with  the  house  of 
God.  The  ministers  of  religion  have  ever  sustained  these  insti- 
tutions, and  they  perish,  sure  as  the  frosts  of  autumn  strip  the 
wood  of  its  foliage,  soon  as  they  aim  at  independence  on  the  higher 
institutions  of  religion.  After  the  darkest  times,  when  learning 
seemed  to  have  taken  its  flight  from  the  earth,  its  embryo  was 
found  to  have  been  sustained  in  the  retreats  of  the  priesthood. 
The  retributions  of  heaven  have  developed  its  purpose,  that  reli- 
gion and  science  be  indissolubly  yoked  to  the  sanctuary,  as  their 
foster-mother.  And  the  evidence  on  this  point  is  brought  to  our 
very  doors.  In  those  districts  of  our  regular  Sabbath-keeping 
congregations,  where  the  population  have  abandoned  the  sanctu- 
ary, their  schools  decline,  and  the  merest  being,  that  has  impudence 
enough  to  apply,  will  be  intrusted  with  the  immortal  interests  of 
their  children.  It  is  common  as  life,  to  find  some  low-minded, 


84-  THE    SANCTUARY. 

foul-mouthed  Sabbath-breaker  immured  in  the  schools  in  those 
districts,  which  are  not  represented  in  the  Sabbath  assembly.  And 
why  expect  it  otherwise  1  Men  will  not  look  far  above  their  own 
standard  to  find  a  teacher  for  their  children.  They  will  not  wish 
one  whose  example  reproves  their  own  practice,  and  whose  creed 
reprobates  their  infidelity.  Now,  let  a  whole  town  become  like 
one  of  these  abandoned  districts,  and  its  schools,  if  any  thing  that 
deserves  the  name  remains,  will  all  be  of  the  same  character.  A 
palpable  darkness  comes  over  the  whole  community.  All  im- 
provement of  intellect  is  undervalued,  and  the  people  verge 
towards  heathenism  by  sure  and  rapid  strides.  A  coarseness  of 
attire,  and  a  clownishness  of  manners,  and  the  growth  of  all  the  low 
and  vulgar  vices,  close  in  now  upon  the  retreat  of  mind  and  morals. 
And  in  the  mean  time  men  suffer  in  their  interest  ten  times  the 
cost  of  sustaining  the  gospel.  Restraint  is  removed  from  vice, 
and  the  enemies  of  virtue,  sustained  by  a  perverse  public  senti- 
ment, walk  undisguised  their  guilty  round  of  midnight  depreda- 
tions. Vice,  that  law  was  invented  to  punish,  claims  its  protec- 
tion. Acts  of  inebriation,  and  lust,  and  profanity,  and  falsehood, 
and  every  other  daring  outrage  upon  the  laws  of  God  and  the 
peace  of  society  are  at  length,  perhaps,  unblushingly  committed, 
rendering  insecure  every  interest  of  man,  temporal  and  spiritual. 
The  prudent  man  must  now  expend,  upon  the  vices  of  his  children, 
many  times  the  sum  that  would  have  nobly  sustained  the  gospel 
institutions.  But,  alas !  he  withheld  his  support  from  these  to 
buy  his  offspring  the  means  of  their  eternal  undoing.  He  saved 
the  price  of  helping  to  build  the  sanctuary,  and  the  pittance  re- 
quired to  support  the  ministry,  and  equip  his  family  for  the  occu- 
pancy of  their  pew;  and,  added  to  these,  he  saved  all  the  earnings 
of  the  Sabbath-day,  but  he  saved  it  to  put  it  into  a  bag  with  holes  ; 
to  bequeath  it  to  an  infidel,  a  debauched  and  profligate  offspring. 
If  a  very  small  portion  of  the  estate  had  been  expended  for  their 
religions  education,  and  they  had  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
God,  and  a  conscience  rectified  by  his  word,  they  might  have  been 
men,  and  possessed  more  than  the  virtues  of  a  father,  and  been  en- 
trusted with  his  estate  and  the  honors  of  his  house,  to  hand  down 
his  name  and  his  praise  to  unborn  generations.  But  the  self-abus- 
ed father  now  on  his  dying-bed  sees  nothing  else  to  do  but  put  his 
large  estate  into  the  purse  of  vagabonds  where  it  will  evaporate 
like  the  dew  of  morning,  or  rot  and  breed  corruption,  and  carry 
death  through  the  whole  field  of  its  pestiferous  exhalations.  It 
does  not  bless  his  sons,  but  renders  them  the  more  capable  of  be- 


THE    SANCTUARY. 


85 


ing  incurably  profligate.  The  merest  poverty,  depriving  them  of 
the  means  of  beastly  indulgence,  might  have  begotten  hope  of  their 
redemption.  But  the  poor  father  must  now  disinherit  his  child- 
ren, or  totally  damn  them.  And  in  the  mean  time  through  his 
money  and  his  heirs  pours  out  pestilence  upon  society,  and  gene- 
rates a  plague  to  operate  the  ruin  of  unborn  generations.  But 
that  father  has  only  himself  to  blame.  His  son  formed  the  best 
character  he  could  with  the  means  his  father  furnished  him. 
Among  these  means  there  was  no  sanctuary,  nor  Sabbath,  nor 
ministry,  nor  valuable  library,  nor  school,  nor  domestic  piety,  nor 
parents'  holy  example,  to  give  him  character  and  virtue,  and  ren- 
der him  a  man.  And  while  this  individual  loss  is  going  on,  by  the 
sacrilege  of  the  sanctuary,  there  is  a  gradual  and  yet  perceptible 
sinking  of  the  interest  of  the  whole  community.  The  original  po- 
pulation are  perishing.  And  no  change  of  inhabitants  will  alter 
circumstances  for  the  better.  For  the  man  of  decent  habits  who 
has  any  character  or  interest  to  lose  will  not  take  up  his  residence 
in  a  territory  so  desolate  and  approaching  evidently  towards  a  still 
grosser  desolation.  Sinking  property  will  ever  be  held  above  its 
value  till  it  reaches  its  lowest  price.  Hence  no  exchange  of  po- 
pulation will  be  for  the  better,  but  all  for  the  worse.  They  may 
get  rid  of  many  a  low  and  mean  and  troublesome  family,  but  must 
invariably  receive  in  exchange  the  very  dregs  of  some  other  ill-fat- 
ed and  miserable  community.  It  will  now  infallibly  result  that 
every  inch  of  territory  is  subjected  to  perpetual  depreciation.  Had 
the  town  sustained  the  sanctuary  at  any  price,  and  from  no  other 
motives  but  to  keep  up  the  value  of  its  lands,  it  would  have  told 
well  on  their  interests.  But  the  day  of  their  prime  has  gone  by, 
and  a  public  sentiment  is  generated  that  is  adverse  to  that  only 
measure  that  would  cure  their  calamities.  It  may  be  that  a  single 
individual  of  large  interest  would  do  well  as  a  worldly  calculator 
to  build  a  sanctuary,  and  establish  a  ministry,  and  institute  a  Sab- 
bath. He  would  thus  secure  his  heirs  from  ruin  and  his  interest 
from  prolonged  and  fatal  depreciation.  The  very  best  sections  of 
Christendom  would  run  precipitately  back  to  heathenism,  only 
break  down  the  house  of  God.  Who  but  heathen  can  be  expected 
to  set  any  price  on  heathen  territory,  upon  habitations  which  have 
become  infested  with  a  moral  plague,  and  fields  over  which  there 
blow  perpetually  the  withering  and  the  deadly  blasts  of  a  burning 
desert.  And  there  is  fled  in  the  mean  time  about  all  that  render- 
ed life  valuable.  Conjugal  fidelity,  and  parental  tenderness,  and 
filial  confidence  and  duty  begin  to  be  more  scarce  and  less  valued 

" 


86  THE    SANCTUARY. 

• 

than  in  Sabbath  and  sanctuary  times.  And  where  are  now  the  fa- 
mily altar,  and  the  social  bible-reading,  and  the  evening  fire-side 
hymn,  and  the  respect  for  age,  and  the  kind  attention  to  the  poor 
and  the  houseless  j  where  all  the  precious  endearments  of  home  1 
And  where  the  authority  to  put  down  iniquity  'I  And  the  whole- 
some public  sentiment  to  sustain  virtuous  deportment,  and  guard 
individual  rights,  and  cradle  into  calmness  the  tumult  of  riot  1  All 
these  disappear  along  with  respect  for  the  sanctuary  and  attend- 
ance upon  the  ordinances  and  institutions  of  religion.  It  is  not  in 
the  nature  of  things,  and  evidently  is  not  the  design  of  Providence, 
that  these  healthful  principles  shall  survive  the  moment  when  the 
bittern  and  the  owl  have  their  home  in  the  old  weather-beaten  and 
time-worn  sanctuary.  And  I  need  not  say  that  all  heathen  lands 
are  destitute  of  the  public  sentiments  and  the  humanizing  princi- 
ples that  bless  mankind  and  that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  social 
happiness.  And  facts  assure  us  that  a  territory  that  has  been 
Christian  can  run  back  to  heathenism  rapidly  as  time  can  speed 
and  virtue  decline.  Hence  those  who  have  made  up  their  minds 
to  dispense  with  gospel  institutions  must  calculate  on  a  diminution 
of  their  catalogue  of  comforts,  beyond  what  any  miserable  people 
have  presumed,  till  they  had  made  the  awful  experiment.  CouM 
the  people  have  known  where  flourished  the  seven  churches  of 
Asia', — could  they  have  dreamed  what  a  desolation  would  sweep 
over  them,  laying  waste  scores  of  generations,  they  would  have 
taken  the  warning  given  them,  and  not  have  suffered  the  candle- 
stick to  be  removed  out  of  his  place.  And  could  any  abandoned 
section  of  Christendom  have  known,  ere  they  parted  with  the  gos- 
pel, how  soon  all  their  comforts  would  flee,  they  would  have  made 
one  more  dying  effort,  and  would  have  perished  if  they  must  by 
the  horns  of  the  altar.  And  even  now  if  there  could  be  awakened 
a  pulsation  of  spiritual  life,  the  rock  would  rise  from  the  quarry* 
and  the  timber  come  down  from  the  wood,  and  the  sanctuary  lift 
its  spire,  and  the  "church-going  bell"  utter  hints  of  salvation 
through  all  that  dreary  territory  of  death.  Men  grow  poor  by 
robbing  God.  There  inevitably  follows  the  abandonment  of  the 
gospel  a  train  of  litigations  and  bankruptcies,  and  imprisonments 
and  divisions,  which  no  human  power  can  control.  Some  solitary 
families  may  seem  for  a  time  to  thrive,  may  grow  wealthy  through 
the  vices  of  the  people,  or  because  they  had  no  share  in  procuring 
the  desolation,  and  are  not  included  in  the  ruin.  But  even  these, 
unless  they  flee  soon  from  the  midst  of  such  a  Sodom,  will  become 
partakers  of  her  plagues.  They  will  see  their  children  contami- 


THE    SANCTUARY.  87 

nated,  and  vile  encroachments  upon  the  stillness  of  their  Sabbaths, 
and  the  peacefulness  of  their  evenings,  and  the  innocent  enjoy- 
ments of  their  interest.  They  must  send  away  their  children  to 
be  educated,  and  send  out  their  capital  from  the  desolated  territo- 
ry, or  employ  it  contraband,  in  distilleries,  and  grog-shops,  and 
usury,  the  only  institutions  that  nourish  in  the  absence  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  then  God  will  curse  their  estate,  and  curse  their  children 
with  it,  and  their  good  name,  till  they  and  theirs  become  amalga- 
mated with  the  surrounding  moral  ruins.  Thus,  when  the  sanc- 
tuary is  let  go,  all  goes.  Men  find  their  counsels  turned  into  fool- 
ishness, and  they  pay  a  tribute  to  vice  twenty  times  the  assess- 
ments of  virtue.  Hence,  when  men  imagine  themselves  unable 
to  bear  the  expense  of  divine  institutions,  they  should  inquire  if 
they  be  able  to  live  without  them. 

VI.  From  the  house  of  God  are  selected  the  subjects  of  his  grace. 

Those  only  who  frequent  the  sanctuary  are  at  all  likely  to  be 
regenerated.  We  have  pronounced  it  the  radiant  point  of  sancti- 
fying truth.  And  it  is  truth,  we  must  not  forget,  in  the  lips  of  a 
living  ministry  that  God  has  pledged  himself  to  bless.  "  By  the 
foolishness  of  preaching  he  saves  them  that  believe."  When  our 
Lord  had  commissioned  his  apostles,  to  go  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  he  promised,  "  he  that  be- 
lieveth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,  but  he  that  believeth 
not,  shall  be  damned."  Thus  the  gospel  that  they  would  carry,  and 
that  would  sound  from  their  lips,  and  that  of  their  successors,  was 
to  be  the  grand  instrument  of  salvation.  In  connection  with  this 
divine  promise,  facts  assure  us,  that  when  God  sends  a  revival 
among  a  people,  the  subjects  of  it  are  generally  taken  from  sanc- 
tuary-going families : — "  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth,  thy 
word  Jfe  truth." — If  others  in  such  a  period  come  round,  and  seem 
interested,  and  are  awakened,  still  seldom  do  they  make  their  way 
to  Jesus  Christ.  More  generally  you  see  them,  soon  as  the  revival  is 
over,  returning  back  to  their  Sabbath-breaking  and  their  cups,  like 
"  the  dog  to  his  vomit,  and  like  the  sow  that  was  washed  to  her  wal- 
lowing in  the  mire,"  and  we  hear  not  from  them  till  perhaps  another 
revival  summons  them  again  to  come  and  gaze  upon  the  moving 
scene.  But  those  who  give  evidence  of  renewed  hearts  are  more 
generally  from  the  people  who  have  sustained  the  honors  of  God's 
house.  In  them  Christ  is  found  the  hope  of  glory.  Hence  to  the  house 
of  God  the  Church  must  look  for  its  recruit,  and  the  world  for  its  sa- 
vour and  its  light.  And  when  the  public  worship  of  God  ceases,  we 


88  THE    SANCTUARY. 

hear  of  no  revivals,  or  if  we  hear  of  them,  we  frequently  hear  that 
their  fruits  have  perished  in  some  wild  and  wayward  fanaticism. 
Hence  the  Church  must  dwindle  and  become  extinct  without  the  sus- 
taining influence  of  the  sanctuary.  There  are  at  length  neither 
creed,  nor  covenant,  nor  communion,  nor  aught  else  remaining,  but 
some  indistinct  recollection  that  once  God  had  there  a  people,  or 
perhaps  some  hoary-headed  believers,  that  once  ate  the  conse- 
crated bread. 

And  what  is  there  worth  saving,  wiiat  tnat  God  will  watch  over 
or  care  for,  where  he  has  no  people  ;  as  in  the  old  world  when  the 
ark  was  ready,  and  in  Sodom  when  Lot  was  gone  1  The  eye  of  a 
vigilant  Providence  sees  nothing  to  occupy  it  where  there  is  none 
of  his  image,  nothing  but  chaff  and  stubble — "  Ye  are  the  salt  of 
the  earth,  ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  Humiliating  as  the 
thought  may  be,  none  may  alter  or  soften  it.  "  Jacob  is  the  lot 
of  his  inheritance."  If  men  are  mortified  that  such  is  their  cha- 
racter as  to  sink  them  below  the  smile  of  Heaven,  and  render 
them  and  theirs  not  worthy  to  be  guarded,  they  must  adjust  the 
concern  with  God.  If  they  will  not  build  him  a  house,  or  if  they 
abandon  the  place  where  his  honor  dwells,  they  cannot  complain 
if  he  care  not  to  build  them  a  sure  house  for  ever ;  it  is  only  walk- 
ing frowardly  toward  them  as  they  have  walked  frowardly  towards 
him.  He  will  think  it  right  to  make  every  other  interest  bend  to 
that  of  his  Church,  the  world  willing  or  not  willing,  pleased  or  dis- 
pleased. "  The  Lord  send  the  help  from  the  sanctuary."  It  would 
be  curious  to  mark  the  process  by  which  a  people  lose  the  blessings 
of  the  gospel  and  bring  upon  themselves  and  upon  posterity  the 
plagues  that  have  been  enumerated.  There  is  usually  discovered 

1.  A  satiety  of  hearing  the  word  of  the  Lord.  This  is  indicat- 
ed by  an  infrequent  attendance  upon  the  sanctuary,  by  a  tardy  ap- 
proach, by  a  half-day  worship,  by  a  dull  and  drowsy  attitude  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  by  a  neglect  of  the  week-day  occasions  of 
hearing  the  gospel,  and  by  a  score  of  other  signs,  which  say  that 
they  are  no  longer  hungry  for  the  word  of  the  Lord.  How  differ- 
ent from  all  this  was  the  spirit  of  the  Psalmist  when  he  sang : 
"  How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  hosts.  My  soul 
longeth,  yea,  even  fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord."  Precisely 
the  opposite  of  all  this  longing,  and  fainting,  and  crying  out  after 
the  courts  of  the  Lord,  is  the  spirit  of  supineness  and  death,  that  is 
seen  coming  over  a  people  on  whom  God  in  righteous  retribution 
is  about  to  send  a  famine  of  the  word.  As  every  movement  of 
the  sinking  patient  is  slow,  and  the  pulse  feeble  and  respiration  la- 


THE   SANCTUARY.  89 

borious,  and  to  think  or  speak  a  burden,  till  death  at  length  is  seen 
standing  hard  by  his  pillow  j  so  that  people  who  are  about  to  make 
the  experiment  of  living  without  the  gospel,  will  be  seen,  perhaps 
for  years,  putting  on  the  symptoms  of  moral  dissolution,  till  at 
length  there  remains  no  longer  the  power  of  action,  or  the  sense  of 
danger,  or  the  hope  scarcely  of  resuscitation  and  life.  And  we 
have  noticed 

2.  That  the  spirit  of  decay  esteems  the  support  of  gospel  insti- 
tutions a  burden.     The  cost  of  the   sanctuary,  and  the  ministry, 
and  the  thousand  varied  appendages  of  evangelical  worship  and 
ordinances  begin  to  be  considered  lost.     Then  comes  the  inquiry, 
What   am   I  the  gainer  by  sustaining  the  gospel  1     How  am  I 
drained  of  the  means  of  accommodating  my  family  with  conve- 
niences !     How  many  acres  of  territory  might  I  have  purchased 
with  the  sums  that  the  gospel  has  cost  me  !     How  poor  have  I 
kept  myself  and  my  family  by  the  offerings  of  the  temple  !    Could 
1  have  them  paid  back,  the  whole  would  be  a  fortune  for  my  child- 
ren !     Thus  men  grudge  the  Lord  the  sacrifices  he  demands  as  the 
very  price  of  their  prosperity  ;  and  the  children  learn  how  reluc- 
tantly their  parents  support  religion,  and  how  gladly  they  would 
rid  themselves  of  the  galling  burden.     Hence,  as  soon  as  their  pa- 
rents are  asleep  in  death,  and  their  property  is  in  their  hands,  they 
are  all  disciplined  for  the  business  of  pulling  down  the  institutions 
of  heaven,  and  making  the  experiment  of  bartering  away  the  truth 
for  money.     Unhappily,  all  their  respect  for  a  parent's  judgment 
goes  to  establish  them  in  the  belief  that  the  gospel  does  but  op- 
press and  impoverish  them.     Thus  the  parent  dug  the  grave  of  his 
offspring.     He  incautiously  taught  them  principles  that  undermine 
his  house  and  blast  his  memory.     He  had  not  counted  up  the  cost, 
how  the  absence  of  gospel  institutions  would  alter  and  injure  the 
character  of  his  offspring,  how  it  would  neutralize  the  Sabbath, 
and  remove  the  means  of  becoming  wise,  and  break  the  grapple  of 
conscience,  and  lessen  the  worth  of  morals  and  the  estimate  of 
character,  and  throw  down  his  children  from  the  elevation  they 
occupied,  and  his  whole  posterity  from  the  position  they  might 
have  held,  into  the  bosom  of  a  besotted,  and  mean,  and  miserable 
community : — how,  with  the  removal  of  the  gospel  there  would 
vanish  all  the  blessings  it  brought ;  the  sweets  of  domestic  inter- 
course, the  bonds  of  the  social  compact,  the  elevation  of  intellect, 
all  the  means  of  being  great  and  good  in  this  life,  and  holy  and 
happy  in  the  life  to  come.     Unhappy  father,  he  sprung  a  mine  un- 
H*r  hi*  own  house  that  threw  his  offspring,  and  his  name,  and  his 
12 


90  THE    SANCTUARY. 

estate,  to  the  winds  of  heaven,  while  a  tithe  of  his  income,  paid 
honestly  to  the  Lord,  would  have  ensured  the  whole,  down,  per- 
haps, to  the  funeral  day  of  the  world.  He  saved  indeed  his  mo- 
ney and  taught  his  children  to  save  it,  but  God  took  vengeance  on 
his  inventions.  And  there  follows  of  course, 

3.  A  disrespect  for  the  ministry  of  the  reconciliation. 

That  ministry  can  be  useful  no  longer  than  respected.  When 
men  begin  to  speak  of  the  office  as  a  mere  sinecure,  they  are  not 
to  be  expected  to  derive  any  great  profit  from  it  j  and  when  they 
treat  the  men  who  occupy  it  with  coarseness,  they  may  calculate 
that  they  are  ruining  their  offspring.  He  that  Heaven  has  com- 
missioned to  negotiate  with  a  rebel  world,  while  he  may  claim  no- 
thing on  the  score  of  personal  importance  or  elevation,  may  still 
demand  that  men  hold  the  office,  and  himself,  because  of  the  office, 
in  due  respect.  And  in  the  absence  of  this  respect  there  is  lost  to 
the  world  the  whole  influence  of  that  highest  means  of  its  re- 
demption, a  preached  gospel,-  and  what  is  more,  there  is  laid  the 
train  that  is  to  carry  moral  devastation  down  through  unborn 
generations.  But, 

FINALLY — There  is  one  token  of  approaching  desolation  so  mark- 
ed in  its  character  as  to  deserve  a  distinct  and  prominent  notice. 
I  refer  to  the  case  when  the  people  of  God  feel  that  they  are  not 
obliged  to  make  greater  sacrifices  than  others  to  sustain  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  hand  down  to  unborn  generations  the  blessings  of  the 
gospel  of  peace.  I  consider  no  one  sign  so  articulate,  that  God  is 
about  to  remove  the  candlestick  out  of  its  place.  God's  people 
ought  to  do  more  than  others  ;  and  if  the  world  would  come  for- 
ward and  act  so  liberally  as  to  save  them  the  necessity,  it  would 
be  a  curse  to  them.  A  Christian  can  pray  better  when  he  is  mak- 
ing great  sacrifices  for  the  Lord,  and  will  grow  more  rapidly  in 
grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  God  will  feed  the  most 
plentifully,  and  smile  the  most  graciously  upon  the  child  that 
serves  him  the  most  cheerfully.  Christians  receive  more  bless- 
ings than  others  through  the  gospel.  In  a  minor  sense,  it  blesses 
all,  but  in  a  major  sense,  believers.  All  learn  truth,  and  receive 
elevation  of  character,  and  enjoy  comforts,  through  the  influence 
of  the  gospel ;  but  the  believer,  through  its  influence,  is  sanctified 
and  made  meet  to  be  a  partaker  of  the  inheritance  with  the  saints 
in  light.  The  one  has  temporal  and  the  other  temporal  and  spir- 
itual blessings.  The  temporal  blessings  are  worth  a  thousand 
times  the  cost  of  them  to  the  unsanctified ;  hence,  by  what  mea- 
sure can  we  calculate  their  worth  to  him  who  hopes  to  reach  hea- 


THE    SANCTUARY.  91 

ven  through  them  1  It  is  for  them,  as  well  as  for  the  world,  a  wise 
appointment  that  they  shall  do  more  than  others.  We  would  not 
have  them  exempted  if  we  could. 

Now,  when  the  people  of  God  begin  to  stand  aloof  from  his 
sanctuary,  and  to  fear  they  are  bearing  an  undue  burden,  and  are 
ready  to  let  it  fall,  unless  others  will  lift  as  laboriously  as  they 
lift,  then  you  may  expect  a  famine  of  the  truth.  When  the  pro- 
fessed people  of  God,  who  are  called  by  his  name,  and  tell  of  be- 
ing bound  to  him  by  an  everlasting  covenant,  who  profess  to  have 
laid  up  their  treasure  in  heaven,  and  to  look  for  "  a  city  that  hath 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  Godj" — when  these  will 
shrink  from  any  sacrifice  to  sustain  the  gospel  of  his  Son,  and  suf- 
fer an  institution  that  prospers  all  others  to  fail  through  their  covet- 
ousness,  then  who,  can  it  be  expected,  will  stand  and  prop  the 
sinking  honors  of  God's  house  ?  It  is  feared  we  could  point  you 
to  a  great  many  gloomy  sections  of  this  ruined  world  where  this 
very  cause  has  operated,  and  is  now  operating  to  turn  the  fruitful 
field  into  a  wilderness,  and  render  some  of  the  holiest  territories 
in  Christendom  cheerless  and  dreary  as  the  very  caverns  of  death. 
On  this  point  one  need  not  fear  to  say  too  much,  the  professed 
Christian,  who  grudges  the  drafts  made  upon  his  purse  by  the  gos- 
pel, and  is  ever  poor  when  its  claims  are  presented,  is  to  be  classed 
with  Demas  and  Judas,  and  to  be  held  up  to  the  world  as  its  great- 
est foe,  and  to  the  Church  as  its  darkest  and  deepest  blot. 
*  How  charming  is  the  place 

Where  my  Redeemer,  God, 

Unveils  the  beauties  of  his  face, 

And  sheds  his  love  abroad ! 

Not  the  fair  palaces 

To  which  the  great  resort, 
Are  once  to  be  compared  with  this 
Where  Jesus  holds  his  court ! 

Here,  on  the  mercy-seat, 

With  radiant  glory  crown'd, 
Our  joyful  eyes  behold  him  sit, 

And  smile  on  all  around. 

To  him  their  prayers  and  cries 

Each  humble  soul  presents : 
He  listens  to  their  broken  sighs 

And  grants  them  all  their  wants. 

Give  me,  O  Lord,  a  place 

Within  thy  blest  abode, 
Among  the  children  of  thy  grace, 

The  servants  of  my  God. 


SERMON   V. 
MIRROR  OF  HUMAN  NATURE. 

PROVERBS   XXVII.    19. 

As  in  water,  face  answereth  to  face ;  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man. 

THIS  text  has  received  various  interpretations;  but  there  is 
among  them  one  more  generally  approved  by  the  friends  of  truth 
than  any  other,  and  which,  it  would  seem  to  me,  is  its  plain  and 
obvious  meaning : — As  a  man  looking  into  the  water,  (used  an- 
ciently as  a  mirror,)  sees  there  an  exact  transcript  of  his  own 
countenance,  so  every  heart  has,  by  nature,  precisely  the  same 
moral  character  with  every  other  unsanctified  heart.  However 
men  may  differ,  as  to  the  circumstances  of  their  being — as  to  their 
age,  country r,  habits,  and  education — still  every  child  of  Adam,  till 
renewed  by  Divine  grace,  has,  in  the  view  of  Omniscience,  the 
same  moral  aspect. 

Many,  who  still  wish  to  be  considered  believers  in  Divine  reve- 
lation, have  asserted,  that  the  parts  of  Scripture  which  give  unre- 
generate  men  a  deformed  and  polluted  character  are  not  applicable 
to  men  of  the  present  day.  When  Paul  says  of  the  unregenerate 
world,  and  quotes  the  saying  from  another  inspired  author,  "  There 
is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one  ;  there  is  none  that  understandeth ; 
there  is  none  tha-t  seeketh  after  God  ;  they  are  all  gone  out  of  the 
way  ;  they  are  together  become  unprofitable  ;  there  is  none  that 
doeth  good,  no,  not  one  ;  their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre  ;  with 
their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit ;  the  poison  of  asps  is  under 
their  lips ;  whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness ;  their 
feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood :  destruction  and  misery  are  in  their 
ways ;  and  the  way  of  peace  they  have  not  known ;  there  is  no 
fear  of  God  before  their  eyes."  When  he  says  all  this  it  is  round- 
ly denied,  that  in  civilized  lands — lands  enlightened  and  polished 
— there  can  be  found  beings  of  so  barbarous  a  character.  It  may 
possibly  suit  the  Turk,  the  Arab,  and  the  Tartar,  and  may  be  adapt- 
ed to  some  few  outcasts  in  more  favored  lands  ;  but,  as  a  .general 
description  of  unregenerate  men,  it  is  rejected  with  proud  disdain. 

In  this  style  the   Bible  has  of  late  been  rudely  mangled,  till 


MIRROR    OF   HUMAN    NATURE.  93 

many  feel  themselves  quite  at  liberty  to  deny  the  application  to 
themselves  of  any  text  that  would  go  to  neutralize  their  creed,  or 
wound  their  high  sense  of  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  It  is 
hence  considered  important  to  show, 

That  men,  in  all  countries  and  ages,  and  under  every  variety  of  cus- 
toms and  manners,  have  had,  and  continue  still  to  have,  naturally,  the' 
same  moral  character. 

This  doctrine  it  will  be  my  object  to  illustrate.  But  I  shall  first 
notice  some  of  the  circumstances  which  have  contributed  to  make 
men  differ  in  their  conduct,  who  have  by  nature  the  same  moral 
character. 

In  the  first  place,  grace  has  made  a  wide  difference  in  men  who 
were  by  nature  alike.  This  has  been  the  case  in  most  countries, 
and  in  all  ages,  since  God  first  set  up  his  Church  in  the  family  of 
Adam. 

In  the  second  place,  the  difference  in  the  instinctive  passions  and 
affections  has  made  men  to  differ  in  their  conduct. 

In  the  third  place,  some  have  not  the  talents  for  doing  mischief 
that  others  have.  This  one  cause  may  operate,  when  there  is  no 
other,  to  produce  the  greatest  difference  of  conduct,  where  there 
is  the  same  temper  of  heart. 

In  the  fourth  place,  some  have  not  the  opportunity  to  do  mis- 
chief that  others  have.  There  may  be  the  disposition,  and  the 
talents  for  gigantic  iniquity,  but  opportunity  may  be  wanting. 
Nero  and  Julian  had  the  opportunity,  while  many  a  wretch  during 
their  reign,  possessing  perhaps  equal  talents,  obtained  no  celebrity 
in  the  service  of  their  infernal  master.  There  are  men  base 
enough  to  burn  a  world,  who  will  die  after  having  done  but  little 
mischief. 

I  remark,  finally,  that  one  man  may  achieve  less  mischief  than 
another,  because  more  restrained.  One  man  is  held  back  from  in- 
iquity by  his  conscience.  In  another,  pride  prevents  him  from 
descending  to  the  deeds  of  sin  which  he  would  love  to  do.  In 
another,  interest  is  the  restraining  principle.  Hence  the  most 
decent  among  all  the  ungodly,  may  have  a  heart  that  will  compare 
in  its  every  feature,  with  that  of  the  thief,  the  robber,  and  the 
assassin  ;  though  restrained  from  their  deeds  of  death. 

Having  thus  noticed  some  of  the  circumstances  which  have 
made  men  to  differ  in  their  conduct  and  appearance,  who  have  by 
nature  the  same  character  of  heart,  I  proceed  to  illustrate  the  doc- 
trine, That  men,  in  all  ages,  and  under  every  variety  of  customs 


94  MIRROR   OF   HUMAN   NATURE, 

and  manners,  Tiave  had,  and  still  continue  to  have,  naturally,  the 
same  moral  character. 

I.  We  might  infer  the  truth  of  this  doctrine,  prior  to  any  argu- 
ment, from  the  similarity  of  origin,  aspect,  and  general  habits,  that 
belong  to  all  ages  and  all  nations  of  men.     All  men  sprang  from 
the  same  first  parents;  in  their  veins  flows  the  same  blood  ;  they 
have  the  same  general  spirit ;  feed  on  the  same  food ;  and  have  all 
naturally  the   same  general  habits  ;  and  prior  to  any  extraneous 
applications,  have,  as  we  analogically  infer,  the  same  temper  of 
heart.     For  the  same  reason  that  we  expect  to  find  the  lamb  and 
the  dove  harmless,  and  the  lion  and  tiger  ferocious,  through  all 
their  generations,  and  in  all  countries  where  they  are  found  ;  we 
expect  man  to  be,  in  the  temper  of  his  heart,  the  same  in  all  ages 
and  in  all  nations.     When  we  have  settled  the  point  that  the 
human  family  are  all  of 'one  species,  analogy  so  far  decides  the 
truth  of  our  doctrine,  as  to  cast  the  burden  of  proof  on  those  who 
venture  to  deny  it.     But  there  is  on  this  subject  more  direct  and 
positive  testimony.     I  would  then  remark. 

II.  That  we  can  hardly  fix  our  eye  on  any  individual  or  commu- 
nity of  antiquity,  but  we  can  find  its  exact  resemblance,  in  some 
individual  or  community  with  whose  character  we  are  familiar.     I 
shall  make  my  selections  chiefly  from  scripture  history,  and  shall 
notice  those  whose  deportment  made  it  manifest  that  they  were 
not  born  of  God,  or  if  otherwise,  were  left  to  act  out  their  native 
character.     When  I  look  back  to  the  family  of  Adam,  I  see  in 
Cain  the  prototype  of  many  a  man  born  sixty  centuries  after  him. 
He  saw  that  his  brother's  offering  was  more  acceptable  than  his 
own,  became  envious,  rose  from  envy  to  anger,  and  gave  vent  to 
his  malice  in  a  deed  that  rendered  him  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond. 
Now  who  is  so  ignorant  of  human  nature  as  not  to  see  in  society 
men  of  precisely  the  same  description  in  the  present  day  ;  men 
who  covet  another's  distinctions,  and  from  coveting  become  mali- 
cious, and  would  destroy,  if  human  law  did  not  interfere,   the 
object  of  their  spleen.     Every  generation  "and  every  country  gives 
birth  to  just  such  men,  and  they  are  found  amid  every  community, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  order  of  men.     Witness  the  whole 
list  of  duellists,  from  the  prince  who  settles  his  quarrel  in  style, 
to  the  poor  kidnapped  African  who  hews  to  pieces  his  antagonist 
with  his  hoe  or  his  scythe.     When  their  envy  does  not  terminate 
in  blood,  it  rises  often  to  a  horrid  pitch  of  desperation. 


MIRROR    OF    HUMAN    NATURE.  95 

In  the  family  of  Jacob  there  was  seen  all  that  variety  of  evil 
disposition  witnessed  in  later  families.  There  was  parental  par- 
tiality, and  filial  impiety ;  there  was  envy,  and  jealousy,  and  pride, 
and  revenge,  and  vanity,  and  lust,  and  deceit,  and,  finally,  all  the 
unhallowed  passions,  that  go  to  poison  the  harmony  of  domestic 
circles  in  every  country. 

In  the  character  of  Balaam,  the  false  prophet,  who  pretended  a 
high  regard  to  the  divine  authority,  and  a  sacred  respect  to  the 
decisions  of  conscience,  while  yet  he  loved  the  wages  of  unright- 
eousness, and  would  gladly  have  permission  of  Heaven  to  curse 
the  Lord's  people,  we  have  the  features  of  many  an  evil  mind  in 
the  present  day.  Like  him,  when  they  cannot  do  wrong  conscien- 
tiously, they  lay  conscience  aside,  and  proceed  by  the  meanest 
measures  to  gratify  their  envy  of  the  Lord's  people.  Can  they 
bribe  Heaven,  or  force  the  Bible,  or  plead  the  example  of  the 
Lord's  people,  to  justify  them,  they  prefer  to  sin  conscientiously, 
but  finally  their  wrath  is  too  malicious  to  be  restrained  by  the  laws 
of  decency,  humanity,  or  honor. 

Look,  if  you  please,  at  Shimei,  who  cursed  David  in  the  day  of 
his  adversity,  and  tell  me  if  the  present  age,  and  all  countries,  are 
not  filled  with  men  of  precisely  the  same  spirit.  While  their 
neighbor  is  prosperous,  has  wealth,  and  power,  and  influence,  they 
are  the  merest  sycophants  ;  but  when  the  scale  is  turned,  and  they 
have  nothing  either  to  fear  or  hope  for,  they  can  display  the  mean- 
est spirit  of  malevolence.  They  have  souls  the  most  mercenary, 
and  no  opinion  of  their  own,  till  they  fall  in  with  some  current  of 
public  scorn,  when,  all  at  once,  they  seem  the  most  decided  of  all 
men.  Who  has  not  witnessed,  when  public  sentiment  has  set  in 
upon  some  good  man,  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  what  a 
multitude  will  then  for  the  first  time  discover  that  he  is  not  fit  to 
live.  Witness  that  most  noted  of  all  cases — when  our  Lord  was 
arrested,  the  very  multitude,  whose  blinjl  he  had  made  to  see,  and 
whose  deaf  to  hear,  whose  sicknesses  he  had  healed,  whose  lepers 
he  had  cleansed,  and  whose  dead  he  had  raised,  could  immediately 
cry  out,  "  Crucify  him,  crucify  him."  A  few  hours  previously,  his 
enemies  were  afraid  to  arrest  him,  because  his  standing  was  so 
high  in  the  public  estimation.  But  his  character  was  unaltered. 
He  did  not  all  at  once  put  on  that  unworthiness  that  became  an 
excuse  for  their  wrath.  He  was  the  same  when  feeding  the  mul- 
titude, as  when  hanging  on  the  tree.  Tell  me,  if  from  the  time  of 
David  down  to  this  day,  society  has  not  been  thick  set  with  men 


96  MIRROR    OF    HUMAN    NATURE. 

of  precisely  the  same  spirit  with  that  miscreant  who  cursed  the 
king  of  Judah  in  his  flight. 

I  name  Joab,  David's  chief  captain,  ambitious,  jealous,  impudent, 
profane,  revengeful — and  ask  if  society  is  not  cursed  in  the  present 
day  with  just  such  men.  They  will  retain  their  place,  and  their 
honors  at  any  expense ;  will  violate  truth,  and  betray  confidence, 
and  direct  their  stab  at  reputation  and  life ;  will  carry  revenge  in 
their  bosoms  for  years,  and  will  finally  violate  all  the  laws  of 
righteousness,  and  cover  their  souls  with  indelible  guilt  to  gratify 
an  unbounded  ambition. 

Let  me  name  one  among  that  sex  where  it  grieves  me  to  find 
any  fault, — the  wife  of  Ahab  ;  and  tell  me  if  every  age  and  king- 
dom has  not  had  its  Jezebels.  You  remember  her  as  the  abettor 
of  falsehood,  fraud,  oppression,  persecution,  and  crime  in  every 
varied  form  into  which  unbounded  depravity  could  mould  itself. 
She  entailed  upon  her  husband  the  horrid  reputation  of  having 
done  more  to  provoke  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  to  anger,  than  all  the 
kings  that  were  before  him.  Now  you  have  but  to  divest  her  of 
royalty  and  power,  and  you  will  find  her  likeness  in  every  consi- 
derable group  of  the  world's  present  population.  She  was  noisy 
and  impudent,  bold  and  masculine,  controlled  her  husband,  guided 
his  measures,  made  him  avenge  her  quarrels,  instigated  him  to 
deeds  of  oppression,  hated  all  that  was  holy,  abused  the  Lord's 
prophet,  and  honored  Baal,  and  finally  was  eaten  of  dogs,  and  went 
to  her  own  place.  Now  can  it  be  doubted  but  that  you  could  find 
in  every  district  of  this  world's  population  many  a  daughter  of 
depravity,  after  her  own  likeness,  whom  you  have  only  to  vest 
with  power  and  clothe  with  royalty,  and  yoke  to  a  weak  and 
wicked  prince,  and  you  have  another  Jezebel,  prepared  to  pollute 
all  that  is  fair,  and  blight  all  that  is  flourishing  in  the  Israel  of 
Godl 

You  may  go  out  of  Israel,  and  survey  all  nations  of  all  ages,  and 
you  will  find  all  that  variety  of  character  noticed  in  Israel,  and 
seen  in  our  day,  and  our  land.  You  may  select  the  worst  man 
that  has  lived  in  any  age  or  kingdom,  or  the  best  of  all  the  ungod- 
ly, and  you  will  trace  his  resemblance  in  every  period  and  in  every 
tribe  of  the  human  family.  We  allow  that  circumstances  may 
favor  or  retard  the  growth,  and  the  unbridled  exercise  of  the  pas- 
sions in  one  nation,  or  at  one  period  more  than  another  ;  but  still 
a  general  comparison  of  this  world's  population,  at  different  peri- 
ods, will  lead  invariably  to  the  conclusion  that,  "  as  in  water  face 
answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man," — that  the  revolu- 


MIRROR    OF    HUMAN    ivATtTRE.  97 

tions  of  time  have  yet  brought  round  no  golden  age,  in  which  there 
was  not  displayed  the  same  temper  and  disposition,  and  when 
there  were  not  born  men  of  the  same  general  character.  I  pro- 
ceed to  a 

III.  Argument.  There  have  prevailed  in  all  ages  and  nations 
the  same  crimes,  calling  for  the  restraining  influence  of  the  same 
laws. 

Men  have  been  in  all  times  and  places  inclined  to  wrong  their 
fellow-men  of  their  property.  Hence  fraud,  theft,  robbery,  and 
oppression  have  been  blots  in  the  history  of  every  people  who  have 
inhabited  the  globe.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  immediate  de- 
scendants of  Abraham  were  the  most  moral  and  civilized  people 
of  their  time  ;  yet  these  crimes  prevailed  in  Israel.  One  would 
steal  an  ox,  or  a  sheep,  and  kill  it,  and  this  vice  must  be  restrained 
by  the  penalty  of  restoring  five  oxen  for  an  ox,  and  four  sheep  for 
a  sheep.  Another  would  turn  his  beast  into  his  neighbor's  field 
and  cause  it  to  be  eaten  up  ;  and  must  make  restitution  of  the  best 
of  his  own  field.  Another  would  remove  his  neighbor's  land- 
mark ;  in  which  case  there  must  light  a  curse  upon  his  head,  to 
which  all  the  people  must  say,  Amen.  There  were  those  who  vex 
and  oppress  the  stranger,  those  who  would  exact  usury,  those  who 
would  take  in  pledge  a  neighbor's  raiment,  those  who  would  not 
pay  the  tithes  that  God  had  enjoined,  those  who  would  take  a 
bribe,  who  would  follow  the  multitude  to  do  evil,  who  would  pro- 
fane the  Sabbath,  who  would  bear  false  witness,  who  would  covet 
a  neighbor's  wife,  or  ox,  or  field.  And  all  these  crimes  prevailed, 
to  a  still  greater  degree,  among  the  nations  bordering  upon  Israel, 
who  had  not  upon  them  the  restraints  of  God's  written  law.  And 
who  will  deny,  that  these  crimes  are  still  common  1  Have  we  not 
the  usurer,  the  slanderer,  the  thief,  the  oppressor,  the  profane,  the 
adulterer,  and  the  Sabbath-breaker  1  Have  we  not  in  use  similar 
laws  to  those  which  curbed  to  decency,  and  honesty,  and  integrity, 
the  family  of  Abraham  1  What  reason  have  we  to  assert,  that  a 
single  statute  in  the  law  of  Moses  went  to  restrain  a  crime  that 
has  since  then  become  obsolete  1  Hence  what  reason  to  believe, 
that  human  nature  has  become  better  1  What  reason  to  believe, 
that  the  descriptions  of  depravity  which  applied  to  Israel,  Babylon, 
Egypt,  Syria,  and  Sidon,  or  even  to  Sodom,  will  not  apply  with 
equal  propriety  to  the  men  of  this  land,  and  of  all  lands  and  all 
generations  when  circumstances  favor  the  growth  and  the  practice 

13 


98  MIRROR    OF   HUMAN    NATURE. 

of  the   same  vices  1     "  As  in  water  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the 
heart  of  man  to  man."     I  draw  my 

IV.  Argument  from  the  fact,  that  the  Bible  has  never  become 
obsolete. 

It  describes  men  of  other  periods,  and  the  description  suits  the 
present  generation.  Some  parts  of  the  Bible  describe  men  as  they 
acted  three  and  four  thousand  years  ago  ;  other  parts  as  they  con- 
ducted eighteen  hundred  years  since  ;  and  it  informs  us  how  men 
will  act  down  to  the  end  of  time.  Now,  sinners  in  the  present 
day,  soon  as  they  gain  some  knowledge  of  themselves,  find  a  faith- 
ful description  of  their  hearts  in  the  same  Bible.  It  proves, 
wherever  there  is  a  spirit  of  self-application,  "  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart."  We  have  sometimes  seen 
persons  greatly  astonished,  to  find,  all  at  once,  that  they  had  in 
their  house  a  neglected  book,  that  could  tell  them  all  the  secrets 
of  their  hearts.  And  this  circumstance  has  not  unfrequently  per- 
suaded them  that  the  Bible  was  written  by  the  finger  of  God. 

But  if  human  nature  has  gradually  become  better,  as  some  would 
pretend  to  believe  ;  if  the  awful  descriptions  of  depravity  given  us 
in  the  Bible  would  suit  only  the  generations  or  communities,  of 
whom  they  were  originally  given,  the  book  would  not  seem  adapt- 
ed, as  it  does,  to  men  as  they  now  feel  and  conduct.  When  the 
unregenerate  world  shall  have  become  as  much  better,  as  it  has  be- 
come quite  fashionable  to  believe,  the  Bible  will  be  no  longer 
adapted  to  our  condition.  It  will  not  then  be  a  light  to  our  feet 
and  a  lamp  to  our  path.  I  can  believe  that  the  spirit  of  the  divine 
law  will  be  in  force  in  heaven,  but  that  detail  of  the  law,  found  in 
the  Bible,  and  adapted  to  a  race  of  sinful  and  polluted  men,  must  go 
into  disuse  when  there  shall  be  born  a  race  free  from  entire  depra- 
vity. The  Bible  was  intended  to  follow  men  into  the  labyrinths  of 
vice,  and  there  warn,  and  admonish,  and  threaten,  and  reprove. 
Hence  when  men  shall  not  thus  run  into  sin,  they  will  need,  and 
God  will  inspire  them  a  new  Bible.  It  was  intended  to  block  up 
the  way  of  death,  and  save  men  from  destroying  themselves  ;  but 
when  men  shall  no  longer  love  to  tread  the  way  to  perdition,  the 
Bible  will  not  be  the  book  they  will  need,  and  God  will  recall  his 
word,  and  give  the  world  other  instructions,  adapted  to  their  al- 
tered and  better  condition.  Hence  whatever  evidence  we  have 
that  the  Bible  is  still  the  very  book  we  need,  we  have  equal  testi- 
mony that  men  are  by  nature  depraved,  as  they  ever  were.  For 
if  the  civil  law  of  Moses  would  suit  well  the  present  generation, 


MIRROR    OF    HUMAN    NATURE.  99 

though  written  more  than  three  thousand  years  since  ;  and  if  the 
Prophecies  and  the  Psalms,  written  five  and  seven  hundred  years 
later,  are  descriptive  of  just  such  men  as  we  are  ;  and  if  the  Gos- 
pels and  the  Epistles,  of  still  later  date,  seem  adapted  to  the  moral 
character  of  the  present  generation  j  with  what  face  can  men  as- 
sert that  their  native  heart  has  changed  all  its  character  1  Must 
not  the  honest  man  believe  still,  that  "as  in  water  face  answereth 
to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  V  I  close  with 

REMARKS. 

1.  We  see  one  source  of  those  corruptions  of  doctrine  with 
which  the  world  is  filled.  Men  have  determined  that  human  na- 
ture has  grown  better,  and  that  men  are  born  now  very  different 
beings  from  the  antediluvians,  or  the  Jews,  or  the  Romans,  or  the 
whole  Gentile  world  in  the  time  of  our  Lord.  Having  settled  this 
point,  independently  on  the  divine  testimony,  they  infer  that  the 
same  Bible  will  not  suit  the  different  ages  and  nations :  that  what 
God  would  say  to  the  ignorant,  barbarous  beings  that  once  peopled 
the  world,  he  would  not  say  to  the  present  enlightened  and  polish- 
ed nations  of  Christendom.  Thus  one  error  has  conducted  to 
another.  They  have  been  led,  by  the  deceitfulness  of  their  hearts, 
to  believe  one  lie,  and  then,  to  be  consistent^  must  believe  another. 
Had  they  but  correct  views  of  their  own  hearts,  they  would  be- 
lieve that  the  same  book,  which  lashed  the  consciences  of  sinners 
two  thousand  years  ago,  is  still  the  best  book  for  us  that  God  could 
inspire,  and  that  it  needs  no  altering.  This  'is  the  opinion  of 
awakened  sinners.  When  God  makes  men  acquainted  with  them- 
selves, the  Bible  looks  them  through,  as  if  an  omniscient  eye  was 
fixed  in  the  centre  of  every  page ;  and  it  needs  then  no  mutilations 
or  amendments.  Oh,  would  those  who  think  they  see  an  inappro- 
priateness  in  the  Bible  doctrines,  look  once  into  their  own  hearts, 
that  look  would  be  a  sovereign  antidote  to  their  heterodoxy ;  and 
the  Bible  would  soon  be  found  appropriate  and  precious.  They 
would  patiently  read  its  most  doleful  pages,  and  trace,  with  moist- 
ened eye,  its  portraits  of  human  depravity ;  discovering  every  fea- 
ture of  themselves  in  its  most  darkened  lines.  In  the  character  of 
the  old  world,  and  of  the  Sodomites,  Paul's  description  of  Gen- 
tiles, and  in  the  character  of  Judas,  they  would  see  no  touch  of  the 
divine  pencil  too  dark  for  a  delineation  of  their  own  carnal  mind. 
It  would  rather  seem  as  if  the  whole  had  been  intended  to  portray 
their  own  likeness,  in  the  fairest  colors  that  truth  could  use.  Their 
proud  brow  would  gather  sadness,  their  heart  would  sicken,  and 


100  MIRROR   OP   HUMAN    NATURE. 

falling  down  into  the  dust,  they  would  cover  their  faces  and  cry, 
Unclean !  unclean !  Wo  is  unto  me. 

2.  The  subject  justifies  a  kind  of  preaching,  as  plain  and  pointed 
as  any  thing  found  in  the  law  of  God,  or  in  the  communications  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles.  Those  who  have  anathematized  a  discri- 
minating, bold,  and  plain  exhibition  of  truth,  have  all  gone  upon  the 
mistaken  presumption,  that  men,  as  the  ages  have  revolved,  have 
gradually  bleached  their  moral  character.  They  have  no  idea, 
that  were  the  Lord  Jesus  to  visit  the  earth  again,  he  would  de- 
nounce us  as  a  sinful  and  adulterous  generation,  or  address  the 
very  worst  of  men  as  serpents,  and  a  generation  of  vipers,  hardly 
escaping  the  damnation  of  hell ; — he  would  not  now  say,  "  that  the 
whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness,"  and  that  "  except  a  man  be  born 
again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God  j" — the  ignorant  and  bar- 
barous Jews  needed  to  be  born  again  ;  as  also  some  of  the  less  civil 
among  the  Romans,  and  a  few  of  the  more  unlettered  among  the 
Grecians ;  but  the  term  has  no  meaning  in  an  enlightened  congre- 
gation in  America. 

But  all  this  is  false  and  mischievous.  Men  have  just  such  hearts 
as  they  always  had ;  and  need  a  gospel  as  plain  and  pungent  as 
that  preached  by  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  old  serpent  needs  to  be 
dislodged  now  from  his  usurped  throne  and  dominion,  by  the  same 
coarse  weapons,  if  you  please  to  call  them  such,  as  were  used 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  We  may  dream  that  we  are  con- 
versant with  celestial  beings ;  that  our  readers  are  all  in  a  fair 
way  for  heaven ;  but  while  we  are  amusing  them,  they  may,  one 
by  one,  steal  away  to  their  death-bed,  and  from  thence  to  a  bed  in 
hell.  And  what  minister  of  Christ  would  not  rather  make  them 
feel  unhappy  all  the  way  to  perdition,  than  find  at  last,  that,  while 
he  has  been  preaching  a  smooth  and  polished  gospel,  one  soul  has 
been  lost  for  ever  through  his  negligence  1 

Every  unregenerate  man  in  this  world  has,  in  the  view  of  Hea- 
ven, the  same  moral  character  with  those  who  vexed  the  righteous 
soul  of  Noah,  and  Lot,  and  Elijah,  and  Malachi,  and  Jesus  Christ, 
and  needs  to  be  addressed  in  the  same  plain,  and  pungent,  and  dis- 
criminating style.  Why  should  totally  depraved  men  wish  any 
other  gospel  than  that  prepared  for  the  totally  depraved  ?  What 
other  gospel  can  reach  their  case,  and  alarm  them,  and  save  them  1 
How  cruel,  if  they  do  wish  it,  to  amuse  them  with  fair  words,  and 
smooth  speeches,  and  thus  prevent  their  hearts  from  aching,  till 
their  destiny  is  sealed.  May  the  blessed  God  save  his  ministers 
from  such  deeds  of  treachery ! 


MIRROR    OF    HUMAN    NATURE.  101 

No,  the  world  needs  just  such  a  gospel  as  was  preached  in  Je- 
rusalem, and  Rome,  and  Corinth — needs  to  hear  the  thunders  of  the 
same  law  that  issued  from  the  smoke  of  Sinai,  and  to  see  the  vivid 
flashes  that  glared  upon  its  summit.  Not  enough  better  has  the 
world  become  to  admit  the  softening  down  of  one  accent  of  those 
denunciations  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  Jesus.  And  he  who  thinks 
otherwise,  has  only  to  look  around  him,  and  within  him,  and  see 
how  the  human  heart  belches  forth  its  moral  corruption,  poisoning 
domestic  and  social  joy,  and  contaminating  every  district  of  this 
unfortunate  and  ruined  world.  Let  him  attend  our  courts  of  jus- 
tice, and  see  how  men  will  perjure  themselves ;  let  him  read  the 
catalogue  of  divorces ;  let  him  spend  an  evening  in  the  grog-shop  j 
let  him  stop  a  moment  at  her  door^whose  "house  is  the  way  to 
hell  ;"*  let  him  enter  one  of  our  criminal  prisons ;  let  him  pene- 
trate once  into  the  secrets  of  his  own  heart,  and  stay  there  till  the 
light  is  let  in  j  and  if  he  shall  then  wish  any  other  gospel  than  the 
one  he  has,  we  will  unite. with  him  in  beseeching  the  Eternal  to 
take  back  his  terrible  communications. 

3.  The  subject  furnishes  ungodly  men  the  means  of  knowing 
their  own  characters.     They  have  but  to  read  the  history  of  the 
world,  and  learn  what  sort  of  beings  once  peopled  it,  and  that  his- 
tory is  the  mirror  in  which  they  can  see  themselves.     We  do  not 
say  that  every  two  unregenerate  men  are  alike  in  their  exterior  ; 
but  we  assert,  on  the  testimony  of  God,  that  every  two  unregene- 
rate hearts  have,  in  the  view  of  God,  the  same  moral  character. 
Hence  the  most  decent  of  the  ungodly11  may  look  at  the  most  aban- 
doned, and  learn  exactly  what  themselves  would  be,  were  God  to 
remove  all  restraint.     Hence  spake  our  Lord  of  whited  sepulchres, 
that  appeared  beautiful  indeed  without,  but  within  were  full  of  dead 
men's  bones  and  all  uncleanness.     And  he  elsewhere  assures  us, 
He  that  has  been  angry  with  his  brother  without  a  cause,  though 
he  may  not  have  spilt  the  blood  of  any  man,  is  a  murderer ;  and 
he  who  has  cast  a  lascivious  look,  is  an  adulterer ;  and  he  who 
has  not  paid  his  tithes,  has  robbed  God.     Thus  Heaven  looks  at 
the  marrow  and  the  pith  of  character ;  and  if  men  would  know 
themselves,  they  must  be  willing  to  be  measured  by  the  same  rule. 

4.  We  argue  from  this  subject,  that  men  must  all  pass  the  same 
second  birth  to  fit  them  for  the  kingdom  of  God.     The  whited 
sepulchre,  as  well  as  that  which  is  neglected  and  decayed,  needs 
to  be  cleansed  within,  else  it  remains  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and 

*  Prov.  vii.  27. 


102  MIRROR   OF   HUMAN   NATURE. 

all  uncleanness.  The  best  man  among  all  the  unregenerated  is  a 
great  sinner,  and  must  become  greatly  ashamed,  and  must  hate 
sin,  and  must  put  his  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  he  must  be 
as  surely  shut  out  of  heaven  as  the  vilest  man  that  breathes.  Men, 
we  know,  may  do  different  degrees  of  mischief ;  one  may  draw 
sin  with  cords  of  vanity,  and  another  with  a  cart-rope ;  and  still 
both  may,  with  equal  assurance,  be  pronounced  on  the  way  to  hell. 
And  in  that  world,  it  is  not  denied,  that  there  may  be  different  de- 
grees of  torment  5  but  it  is  denied,  that  either  the  better  sinner  or 
the  worse  can  escape  perdition,  unless  he  be  born  again.  Hence 
it  becomes  every  man,  honorable  or  mean,  to  be  inquiring  what 
he  must  do  to  be  saved.  The  man  who  stupidly  imagines  that 
any  elevation  of  character  raises  him  above  the  necessity  of  re- 
penting, and  of  taking  a  believing  grasp  of  the  atonement  by  Jesus 
Christ,  has  mistaken  his  own  character,  and  is  blind  to  his  ap- 
proaching destiny.  He  may  compass  himself  about  with  sparks 
of  his  own  kindling,  and  walk  in  the  light  of  his  own  fire,  but  shall 
have  this  at  the  hand  of  God,  that  he  shall  lie  down  in  everlasting 
sorrow.  *  Haste,  then,  ye  very  best  of  the  ungodly,  and  be  found 
at  a  Savior's  feet,  that  ye  may  have  life  through  his  name.  If  the 
world  esteems  you  a  benefactor,  and  you  can  see  no  fault  in  your- 
self, still  you  must  be  born  again,  or  die  in  your  sins,  and  where 
Christ  is,  can  never  come. 

Finally,  We  see  why  there  need  be  but  one  place  of  destiny  in 
the  coming  world  for  all  the  unregenerate.  The  little  shades  of 
difference  that  now  appear  in  the  ungodly,  are  too  insignificant  to 
mark  them  out  for  distinct  worlds.  When  God  takes  off  those 
restraints  that  now  make  unholy  men  differ,  they  will  be  so  much 
alike  that  none  will  impeach  his  justice  when  he  assigns  them  all 
the  same  outer  darkness,  the  same  gnawing  worm,  and  the  same 
quenchless  fire.  He  that  has  stolen  his  neighbor's  property,  and 
died  a  felon,  and  he  who  has  concealed  the  article  found  in  the 
street,  or  the  mistake  made  in  his  favor,  or  has  purposely  become 
a  bankrupt,  to  escape  the  obligations  of  honesty,  will  appear  too 
much  alike  in  the  judgment  to  require  any  material  diversity  in 
their  final  sentence.  The  same  perdition  will  suit  them  both, 
though  one  drops  down  to  hell  from  the  gallows,  and  the  other  is 
borne  there  on  a  downy  bed.  The  duelist  and  the  assassin,  the 
usurer  and  the  pickpocket,  the  forsworn  and  the  profane,  the  wine- 
bibber  and  the  sot,  the  fashionable  adulterer  and  the  inmate  of  the 
brothel,  must  be  seen  to  differ  so  little,  when  God  shall  tear  away 
the  fictitious  drapery  from  the  more  honorable  sinner,  that  it  will 


MIRROR   OF    HUMAN    NATURE.  103 

seem  no  incongruity  to  place  them  at  last  in  the  same  hell.  God 
will  consider  his  law  as  openly  violated,  and  his  authority  as  egre- 
giously  insulted,  by  the  man  who  sinned  in  accordance  with  pub- 
lic sentiment,  as  by  the  man  who  did  his  deeds  of  depravity  in  full 
and  open  violation  of  the  civilities  and  customs  of  human  society. 
Men  make  wide  distinctions  where  God  will  make  none.  Hence 
the  same  condemnatory  sentence,  the  sanje  prompt  execution  of 
it,  the  same  place  of  punishment,  the  same  duration  of  misery,  and 
the  same  total  despair,  will  be  the  destiny  of  the  patrician  and  the 
plebeian  transgressor.  Does  the  man  die  out  of  Christ,  this  is 
enough ;  no  matter  Avhether  he  was  lothed  in  purple  and  fine 
linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day,  or  went  to  perdition  a 
beggar  or  a  slave.  It  will  be  the  same  thing  to  God ;  and  for  all 
the  millions  who  repent  not,  he  will  build  but  one  hell.  Perhaps 
the  meanness  and  coarseness  of  his  associates  may  prove  at  last, 
to  the  more  accomplished  sinner,  an  ingredient  in  his  cup  of  mis- 
ery that  shall  more  than  counterbalance  the  honors  and  the  pride, 
which,  in  this  life,  gave  him  his  fictitious  elevation  above  the  vul- 
gar transgressor.  Could  I  make  my  puny  voice  be  heard,  I  would 
thunder  this  sentiment  through  all  the  ranks  of  elevated  crime,  till 
the  highest  prince  should  find  his  adulterous  bed  a  couch  of  thorns, 
till  the  honorable  murderer  should  feel  in  his  own  bosom  "  the 
arrows  of  the  Almighty,"*  and  till  the  boldest  in  blasphemy  and 
the  meanest  in  knavery  should  fear  alike  the  same  award,  "  Depart 
ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels." 

*  Job.  vi.  4. 


gERMON  VI. 
THE  SON  OF  GOD  MUST  BE  REVERENCED. 

MATT.   XXI.    37. 

They  will  reverence  my  son. 

OUR  Lord,  in  the  context,  represents  the  ingratitude  and  the 
barrenness  of  the  Jewish  church,  hy  a  parable  of  a  vineyard  leased 
for  several  successive  years  to  unworthy  husbandmen,  who  would 
not  yield  the  owner  any  of  its  fruits ;  but  treated  unmercifully 
every  servant  sent  to  receive  them.  They  "  took  his  servants, 
and  beat  one,  and  killed  another,  and  stoned  another.  But,  last 
of  all,  he  sent  unto  them  his  son ;  saying,  They  will  reverence  my 
son.  But  they  caught  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  vineyard,  and 
slew  him." 

We  read,  that  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  the  house  of 
Israel,  and  Judah  his  pleasant  plant.  He  had  given  them  his  writ- 
ten word,  and  had  sent  among  them  his  prophets.  He  had  dis- 
played before  them  his  glory,  and  had,  as  it  were,  surrounded 
them  by  a  munition  of  rocks.  The  early  and  the  latter  rains  had 
rendered  their  lands  fertile,  and  the  blessing  of  God  had  prospered 
them,  in  all  that  they  set  their  hands  to  do.  Thus  Israel  was 
emphatically  a  vineyard.  But  when  God  had  a  right  to  expect 
that  the  vines  he  had  planted  and  nourished  would  bring  forth 
grapes,  they  brought  forth  wild  grapes.  The  very  people  he  had 
chosen,  killed  his  prophets,  polluted  his  worship,  and  hewed  down 
his  altars;  and  finally  imbrued  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  Son. 

Hence  the  parable,  delivered  by  him  who  spoke  as  never  man 
spake,  must  have  had  amazing  point  and  force.  It  aroused  their 
anger,  and  they  would  at  once  have  laid  hands  on  him,  if  they  had 
not  feared  the  multitude.  God  had  a  right  to  expect  that  they 
would  welcome  to  their  sanctuary  the  promised  Redeemer,  and 
would  hail  his  birth  as  the  pledge  of  their  redemption.  But  in 
their  cruelties  to  the  Son  of  God,  they  acted  out  the  native  tem- 
per of  the  human  heart,  and  showed  themselves  to  be  just  such 
men  as  lived  before  and  have  lived  since  the  period  of  the  Savior's 
advent.  What  is  said  of  Israel  may  be  said  of  men  in  all  ages : — 


THE    SON    OF    GOD    MUST    BE    REVERENCED.  105 

It  'might  have  been  presumed  that  they  would  treat  kindly  the  Son  of 
God. 

This  doctrine  may  be  established  by  the  following  considera- 
tions : — 

I.  That  men  would  treat  him  kindly,  might  have  been  justly 
presumed,  by  the  divinity  and  glory  of  his  highest  nature.  He  had  a 
divine  as  well  as  human  nature :  he  was  "  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh."  Previous  to  his  coming,  it  had  been  as  distinctly  asserted, 
that  he  was  divine,  as  that  he  would  be  human.  That  prediction 
of  him,  "  To  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given  :  and  the 
government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder,  and  his  name  shall  be  call- 
ed Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Fa- 
ther, the  Prince  of  Peace,"  had  been  read  by  the  posterity  of 
Abraham  ;  and  foretold  him  in  his  divine  and  in  his  human  charac- 
ter. They  had  reason  to  expect  a  Savior,  who  built  the  worlds, 
and  who  governs  the  worlds  he  built.  Hence  the  thought  of  treat- 
ing him  with  contempt  was  impious — like  offering  direct  insult  to 
Jehovah.  And  he  had  no  sooner  appeared,  than  both  his  natures 
became  manifest.  As  man  he  hungered,  while  as  God  he  created 
bread  to  feed  the  multitude :  as  man  he  thirsted,  but  as  God  he 
converted  the  water  into  wine  ;  as  man  he  could  suffer,  and  bleed, 
and  die,  while  as  God  he  could  make  the  sufferer  whole  5  and  even 
summon  the  dead  from  their  graves.  Thus  the  accusers,  the 
judges,  and  the  executioners  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  could  have  no 
want  of  evidence  that  he  was  the  mighty  God.  Hence,  it  might 
have  been  presumed,  that  if  he  must  die,  God  himself  must  slay 
him.  He  must  come  to  his  sepulchre  by  the  immediate  hand  of 
Omnipotence.  No  one  would  dare  to  betray  hrm,  no  soldiery 
would  have  hardihood  enough  to  arrest  him,  no  miscreant  would 
sit  to  judge  him,  no  multitude  would  insult  him,  none  would  dare 
to  crucify  him.  And  we  should  seem  to  reason  correctly  in  all  this, 
carrying  ourselves  back  to  the  period  before  his  coming.  And 
still  we  should  reason  contrary  to  matters  of  fact.- 

We  should  have  said,  anterior  to  his  offering  himself  to  men  as 
their  Mediator  and  their  friend,  that  they  would  all  accept  his 
proffered  friendship.  When  God  himself  offers  to  save,  how  can 
man  reject  him  1  He  who  now  stretches  out  his  hands  to  the  wretch- 
ed and  the  lost  of  my  readers,  is  the  same  infinite.  Redeemer  who 
called  Lazarus  from  the  grave,  who  fed  the  multitude,  who  stilled 
the  waves,  who  burst  the  bands  of  death,  and  proved  his  divinity 
by  ascending  triumphant  on  high.  Angels,  and  other  beings  who 
14 


106  THE  SON  OF  GOD  MUST  BE  REVERENCED. 

might  know  what  an  offer  men  would  thus  have  of  salvation  by 
Jehovah  himself,  could  not  have  believed  that  sinners  would  treat 
him  as  they  do ; — that  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  they  would  hear 
his  overtures,  and  turn  their  back  upon  him.  They  would  not 
have  conceived  it  possible  that  men,  after  all  he  has  done,  would 
question  his  divinity,  and  rob  him  of  his  glory,  and  persecute  his 
people. 

If  God  should  render  himself  visible,  and  stand  from  Sabbath  to 
Sabbath  with  pardons  in  his  hands,  pressing  men  to  accept  forgive- 
ness and  live,  the  obstinacy  of  sinners  would  appear  just  what  it  is. 
For  one  who  is  divine  does  thus  stand.  He  appropriates  to  him- 
self all  the  glories  of  the  Godhead,  has  the  titles,  does  the  works, 
possesses  the  attributes,  receives  the  worship,  and  claims  the 
honors  of  the  Father.  He  is  adored  in  heaven,  under  the  appella- 
tion of  the  Lamb,  in  every  anthem.  And  still  he  stands  knocking 
unheeded  at  the  door  of  the  sinner's  heart,  till  his  head  is  wet 
with  the  dew,  and  his  locks  with  the  drops  of  the  night ;  till  we 
hardly  know  which  is  the  most  surprising,  his  condescension  or 
the  sinner's  obstinacy.  "  They  will  reverence  my  son." 

II.  It  might  have  been  presumed  that  the  Lord  Jesus  would  be 
kindly  treated  by  men,/ro7»  the  perfect  excellence  of  his  character  as 
a  man.  There  was  nothing  in  him  to  provoke  the  anger  of  good 
beings.  There  was  neither  pride,  nor  jealousy,  nor  selfishness, 
nor  passion,  nor  any  of  those  evil  affections  that  so  often  involve 
men  in  disgraceful  broils.  He  was  meek  and  lowly  of  mind.  He 
had  a  character  of  perfect  loveliness.  His  lips  were  charged  with 
blessings,  and  not  with  curses  :  "  there  was  no  guile  found  in  his 
mouth."  He  Idved  the  souls  of  men,  more  than  he  loved  his  life* 
There  was  nothing  in  him  for  men  to  blame  or  quarrel  with,  but 
every  thing  that  could  be  desired  to  draw  forth  their  strongest 
emotions  of  gratitude  and  love. 

Who  could  conceive  of  a  race  of  beings  so  vile,  that  they  would 
quarrel  with  an  angel  j  yet  angels  have  no  such  worth  as  was 
found  in  the  Son  of  God.  The  prophets  had  human  nature  left,  and 
might  provoke  the  rage  of  their  enemies,  and  tantalize  their  perse- 
cutors. They  might  demand  the  fruit  of  the  vineyard  in  a  manner, 
not  the  most  condescending  and  kind,  and  might  contribute,  by 
their  own  unwojthy  conduct,  to  fan  the  fires  that  were  kindling  to 
consume  them.  And  the  apostles  were  men  of  like  passions  with 
those  who  mocked  them,  and  stoned  them.  While  they  demand- 
ed boldly,  and  promptly,  the  fruit  of  the  vineyard,  they  might,  per- 


THE  SON  OF  GOD  MUST  BE  REVERENCED.  107 

haps,  sometimes  make  the  demand  rudely.  But  "  they  will  rever- 
ence my  son."  Nothing  that  was  wrong  in  prophets  and  apostles 
was  found  in  him ;  and  what  was  wanting  in  them,  was  in  him. 
He  made  every  doctrine  plain,  and  every  duty  clear  and  obvious. 
He  never  pressed  the  conscience  till  he  had  enlightened  the  un- 
derstanding, nor  used  an  argument  that  was  not  sound  and  good. 
His  honesty,  and  integrity,  and  wisdom,  entitled  him  to  the  credit 
and  kindness  of  all  men. 

Now,  are  ungodly  men  aware,  that  it  is  this  same  kind  and  good 
Redeemer,  who  now  offers  to  conduct  them  to  the  abodes  of  glo- 
ry, but  whose  kindness  they  spurn,  and  whose  love  they  despise  1 
Could  it  have  been  believed  by  those  who  knew  him  and  adored 
him,  that  men  would  thus  treat  him,  as  do  all  the  impenitent  1 
"  They  will  reverence  my  son." 

III.  It  might  have  been  presumed,  that  men  would  treat  kindly 
the  Lord  Jesus,/ro;re  the  reasonableness  of  his  claims.  He  came  not 
to  reap  where  he  had  not  sown,  or  gather  where  he  had  not 
strewed.  He  came  not  to  demand  allegiance  when  another  had  a 
better  right  to  the  sceptre  than  himself;  he  came  not  to  a  world 
that  had  another  for  its  creator,  its  benefactor,  and  redeemer.  He 
is  emphatically  represented  as  having  come  "  to  his  own,  but  his 
own  received  him  not."  This  world  belongs  to  the  Lord  Jesus, 
from  its  foundation  to  its  topstone.  To  him  pertain  the  wisdom 
of  having  planned  it,  the  glory  of  having  built  it,  the  right  to 
govern  it,  and  the  authority  to  judge  it.  All  creatures  in  him  live, 
and  move,  and  have  their  being.  Hence  he  has  a  right  to  our 
services,  independently  on  his  redeeming  right.  The  breath  he 
gives  he  may  require  to  utter  itself  in  praise  ;  the  arm  he  nerves 
he  may  tax  with  duty ;  and  the  eye  he  enlightens  he  may  reason- 
ably expect  to  regard  him  with  perpetual  complacency. 

And  when  we  take  into  account  the  ransom  price  he  paid,  his 
own  blood,  by  which  he  purchased  anew  the  world  that  was  his 
before,  his  claim  to  us  and  ours  is  too  manifest  to  be  disputed. 
"  He  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from 
all  iniquity,  and  purify  to  himself  a  peculiar  people  zealous  of  good 
works."  In  demanding  our  hearts,  then,  he  demands  what  is  his 
by  a  double  right ;  the  right  of  creation  and  of  purchase.  We 
owe  to  him  all  we  have,  and  all  we  are,  and  all  we  hope  for.  We 
can  adore  no  other  sovereign  without  treason  against  him,  and 
serve  no  other  master  without  robbery.  All  the  angels  of  God 
are  directed  to  worship  him  ;  and  if  angels,  who  are  his  by  feebler 


108  THE  SON  OF  GOD  MUST  BE  REVERENCED. 

ties,  must  pay  him  supreme  respect,  then  his  right  to  us,  and  his 
property  in  us,  none  but  devils,  surely,  can  have  the  audacity  to 
question.  Hence,  from  the  justness  of  his  claims,  it  might  have 
heen  presumed  that  men  would  treat  well  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  vineyard  and  all  its  fruits  are  his. 

IV.  It  might  have  been  presumed  that  men  would  treat  well  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  the  condescending  kindness  of  his  intentions. 
He  stood  in  no  need  of  us.     He  would  have  had  an  empire  large 
enough  to  be  the  organ  of  his  praise,  if  we  had  perished.     "  The 
chariots  of  GOD  are  twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels." 
And  if  men  had  been  passed  by,  and  not  redeemed,  he  would,  no 
doubt,  have  drawn  out  to  view,  in  some  other  way,  his  mercy  and 
his  wisdom,  which  now  display  themselves  in  the  economy  of  re- 
demption.    He  might  have  redeemed,  for  aught  we  know,  the  lost 
angels  ;  or  might  have  displayed  redemption  among  the  population 
of  some  other  forlorn  and  ruined  world,   or  might  have   revealed 
his  gracious  character  to  us,  as  he  has  his  eternity,  through  the 
word  of  inspiration.     Christ  was  not  dependent  on  us  either  for  the 
stability  of  his  throne,  or  the  promulgation  of  his  glory,  or  the  feli- 
city of  his  being.     No  motive  brought  him  to  our  world  but  pure 
benevolence.     He  "  so  loved  the  world"  that  he  gave  himself  as 
its  ransom.     Its  miseries  moved  his  pity,  and  he  stooped  to  help 
us.     He  would  not  have  come,  had  he  not  been  kind  and  gracious. 
True,  he   showed  a  special   regard  to  the  law  ;  would  have    it 
honored ;  would  not  allow  one  jot  or  tittle  of  it  to  fail ;  and  hence 
he  may  be  viewed  as  having  come  "  to  establish  the  law  ;"  but  it 
must,  be  remembered,  that  the  law  might  have  been  honored  in  its 
execution  upon  the  guilty ;  so  that,   independently  on  the  idea  of 
saving  sinners,  there  was  no  need  of  the  death  of  Christ,  in  order 
to  honor  the  law.     Hence  his  errand  into  our  world  was  emphati- 
cally an  errand  of  love.     "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."     The  love  of  Christ  was  the  ba- 
sis of  the   covenant  of  redemption.     It  led  him  to  lay  aside  his 
glory,  and  cover  himself,  with  a  veil  of  flesh,   and  become  "  ac- 
quainted with  grief." — "  Though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  he 
became  poor,  that  we,  through  his  poverty,  might  be  rich."     He 
who  built  all  worlds,  condescended  to  say  of  himself,  "  The  foxes 
have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of 
man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."     Thus,  "  by  grace    are  we 
saved." 


THE  SON  OF  GOD  MUST  BE  REVERENCED.  109 

Now,  it  might  have  been  presumed  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
on  an  errand  so  benevolent  would  have  been  treated  well.  His 
design  was  too  kind  to  deserve  any  other  than  the  kindest  and 
most  prompt  reception.  Had  he  gone  to  devils  instead  of  men,  it 
would  seem  impossible  but  they  must  have  received  him  kindly, 
when  on  such  an  errand,  with  such  heavenly  designs.  The  very 
pit,  it  would  seem,  must  have  echoed  with  his  praise.  Hence,  if 
men  have  a  better  character,  as  they  boast  they  have,  ask  them 
how  they  receive  the  message  of  divine  mercy.  Does  the  Lord 
Jesus  possess  the  throne  of  your  heart  1  Is  he  the  sovereign  ob- 
ject of  your  fear,  your  love,  your  hope,  and  your  worship  1  If 
not,  then  cast  from  you  that  exalted  opinion  of  yourself,  which 
raises  you  a  single  degree  above  the  tenants  of  the  pit. 

V.  It  might  have  been  presumed,  that  men  would  treat  well  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  from  his  known  ability  to  save.     Had  he  come  in 
such  weakness  as  would  have  rendered  the  enterprise  doubtful  on 
which  he  had  entered,  there  might  have  been  a  temptation  to  des- 
pise him.     Had  he  failed  in  making  the  atonement,  or  been  unable 
to  change  the  heart,  or  proved  inadequate  to  the  work  of  leading 
on  his  people  to  victory  and  glory,  after  he  had  enlisted  them,  then 
had  he  brought  all  the  measures  of  his  mercy  into  contempt,  and 
angels  would  have  refused  to  do  him  homage.     But  he  was  able  to 
do  all.     He  had  but  to  lay  down  a  life  which  none  could  take  from 
him,  and  the  price  of  our  redemption  was  paid.     He  had  but  to 
speak  the  word,  and  the  veriest  rebel  bowed  to  his  mandate.    And 
he  has  always  with  consummate  skill,  led  on  the  sacramental  hosts 
of  his  elect  to  the  abodes  of  paradise.     Hence,  he  is  said  to  have 
"  trodden  the  wine-press  alone  j"  he  is  represented  as  "  travelling 
in  the  greatness  of  his  strength  ;"  is  said  to  "  gird  his  sword  upon 
his  thigh  ;"  and  to  "  ride  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer." 

Now,  we  needed  just  such  a  Kedeemer :  one  who  was  "  mighty 
to  save.".  We  were  in  a  condition  too  forlorn  to  be  redeemed  by 
any  other  than  an  almighty  Savior.  Hence,  when  such  a  Savior 
was  offered,  how  could  men  do  otherwise  than  kindly  receive  and 
joyfully  embrace  him  1  How  could  he  fail  to  gain  their  confidence 
and  love,  and  be  chosen  Captain  of  their  salvation,  their  Lord,  and 
their  king!  "  They  will  reverence  my  son." 

VI.  This  might  have  been  presumed,/rom  his  ability  to  destroy,  as 
well  as  to  save.     The  Savior  comes,  it  is  true,  with  an  offer  of  mer- 
cy ;  but  he  comes,  too,  clothed  with  all  the  authority  of  the  God- 


110  THE  SOU  OF  GOD  MUST  BE  REVERENCED 

head.  He  will  one  day  say,  as  in  the  parable,  "  These,  mine  ene- 
mies, who  would  not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,  bring  them 
hither,  and  slay  them  before  me."  The  offers  he  makes  to  sinners 
they  cannot  with  impunity  reject.  A  blessing  offered  us  by  our 
fellow-men  may  be  received  or  not,  as  we  please,  and,  if  rejected, 
there  accrues  no  guilt :  not  so  the  offer  of  mercy  by  Jesus  Christ. 
He  comes  to  demand  our  hearts  as  his  throne ;  and  will  bless  us 
if  we  receive  him ;  but  we  are  cursed  if  we  reject  him. 

And  the  sinner,  it  would  seem,  must  know  that  he  is  strong  to 
destroy.  He  hurled  the  rebel  angels  from  heaven,  and  fastened 
them  in  chains  under  darkness  till  the  judgment  of  the  great  day. 
He  drowned  a  world,  when  it  would  not  have  him  to  reign  over  it. 
And  all  his  foes  he  has  sent  to  a  hopeless  perdition,  as  fast  as  they 
have  evinced  themselves  incorrigibly  wicked.  Kind  as  are  now 
his  overtures,  and  extensive  his  promises,  and  prolonged  his  endu- 
rance, still,  if  you  remain  impenitent,  he  must  stain  his  raiment 
with  your  blood.  His  eyes  will  be  as  flames  of  fire  ;  and 
out  of  his  mouth  will  go  a  sharp  sword  to  smite  the  ungodly ;  and 
on  his  vesture  and  on  his  thigh  will  be  seen  written,  "  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords."  How  tremendous  the  thought,  that  the 
very  Lord  Jesus,  at  whose  feet  so  many  sinners  have  found  par- 
don, will  rise  upon  the  finally  incorrigible  in  all  the  greatness  of 
his  strength,  and  "  tread  them  in  his  anger,  and  trample  them  in 
his  fury  !"  To  such  a  Prince,  how  fair  the  presumption,  that 
every  knee  would  bow  and  every  tongue  confess. 

FINALLY,  it  might  have  been  presumed  that  sinners  would  treat 
kindly  the  Lord  Jesus,  from  their  necessities.  He  found  them 
"  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked."  He 
passed  by,  and  saw  them  as  an  infant  u  cast  out  into  the  open 
field,"  in  the  day  that  it  was  born.  We  had  fallen  under  the 
curse  of  the  broken  law — had  neither  righteousness,  nor  holiness, 
nor  happiness,  nor  hope.  There  was  nothing  for  us  but  misery 
now,  and  "  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment,  and  fiery  indignation, 
that  must  devour  the  adversary."  Thus,  our  necessities  put  us  in 
need  of  a  friend — an  almighty  friend — one  that  could  pity  and  help 
the  most  miserable.  Could  it,  then,  have  been  presumed,  that, 
should  such  a  friend  offer  his  aid,  beings  so  lost  and  miserable 
could  reject  him  !  ! 

One  could  sooner  conceive  that  a  beggar  would  spurn  the  plen- 
ty and  the  pleasures  of  a  palace,  and  choose  to  lodge  in  the 
street  ;  or  that  the  blind  would  choose  to  grope  their  way  to  the 


THE    SON    OF    GOD    MUST    BE    REVERENCED.  Ill 

grave,  when  they  might  have  vision  j  or  that  a  dying  man  would 
refuse  the  touch  that  might  give  him  life  and  health. 
I  close  with  three 

REMARKS. 

1.  The  sinner's  final  ruin  is  unnecessary.     All  the  purposes  of 
his  personal  perdition  may  now  be  answered  in  the  Savior.      The 
law  can  be  honored,  and  God  honored,  and  he  escape  damnation. 
All  the  purity  of  the  precepts,  and  all  the  attributes  of  the  God- 
head, are  displayed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  far  more  amply  than 
in  the  volume  of  "  smoke  that  ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever." 
O  yes  ;  the  cross,  that  everlasting   monument  of  a  dying  Savior, 
reveals  the  Deity  far  more  intelligibly  than  the  "  everlasting  fire." 
Hence,  the   sinner  is  lost,  not  because  of  any  necessity  for  his 
ruin  ;  not  because  of  any  doom  that  chained  him  down  to  death  ; 
not  because  his   salvation  was  impossible  ;  not  because  heaven 
could  devise  no  other  expedient  for  securing  the  divine  veracity  ; 
not  because   of  anything  we  can  think  of — but  that  he  "  chose 
darkness  rather  than  light" — and  "  death  rather  than  life."  Hence, 

2.  His  ruin  will  be  self-induced.     By  this,  I  do  not  mean  merely 
that  he  is  a  voluntary  agent  in  breaking  the  divine  law.     This  sin 
always  implies.     I  intend  more  than  this.      The  sinner  puts  forth 
his  hand,  and  thrusts  from  him  the  charter  of  forgiveness.     He 
might  have  had  life  after  he  was  condemned  ;  after  his  death-war- 
rant was  written  and  sealed  j  after  the  pit  had  been  prepared  to 
receive  him.     Nay,  when  hell  itself  was  begun  in  his  bosom,  and 
the  divine  anger  was  consuming  him — even  then  eternal  life  was 
possible, — but  he  "  chose  death  !"     Hence, 

Finally,  his  ruin  will  be  wanton.  He  will  be  viewed  for  ever  as 
having  sported  with  his  soul  ;  as  if  it  had  been  a  pearl,  and  he  had 
run  with  it  to  the  mouth  of  a  pit,  and  cast  it  in  j  or  as  if  it  had 
been  a  combustible  world,  and  he  with  a  torch  had  set  it  on  fire. 
He  employed  himself  in  scattering  fire-brands,  arrows,  and  death, 
and  still  professed  himself  to  be  in  sport.  The  man  who  plunges 
the  knife  into  his  own  heart,  does  not  more  wantonly  die,  than 
the  sinner  is  wantonly  damned.  Oh,  how  affecting,  that  hell 
should  be  thus  peopled  by  a  world  of  suicides,  who  dared  the 
vengeance,  and  tantalized  the  compassion,  and  despised  the  for- 
bearance of  the  Eternal !  It  might  reasonably  have  been  presum- 
ed, "  They  will  reverence  my  son."  But  no  !  insulted  Jehovah  ! 
they  pour  indignity  upon  his  name  and  his  cross,  despise  his  mes- 
sengers, and  "  perish  in  their  sins,"  rather  than  do  him  homage, 
arid  humbly  seek  redemption  through  his  blood. 


SERMON    VII. 
THE  TWO  CHAMPIONS  CONTRASTED. 

ISAIAH   XL.   30,   31. 

Even  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and  the  young  men  shall  utterly  fall:  but  they  that 
wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength ;  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles ;  they 
shall  run,  and  not  be  weary ;  and  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint. 

THE  sentiment  is  often  entertained,  that  religion  is  suited  only 
for  the  weak,  the  aged,  and  the  infirm  5  but  is  quite  useless,  if  not 
injurious,  to  the  young,  healthful,  and  prosperous.  When  we 
have  yielded  all  the  respect  we  can  to  men  who  advance  this  sen- 
timent, we  must  still  pity  their  delusion.  It  can  never  be  said  that 
piety  injures  the  young  man.  He  may  cultivate  in  connection 
with  it  all  the  amiable  properties  of  human  nature.  May  be  mild 
and  affable  ;  may  be  decent  and  ardent ;  modest  and  courageous. 
These  lovely  and  noble  qualities  religion  does  not  eradicate,  but 
cherish.  Can  it  cast  a  shade  of  deformity  over  them,  to  add  the 
love  and  fear  of  God,  who  is  supremely  amiable  1  Are  men  so 
hostile  to  their  Maker,  that  respect  for  him,  and  obedience  to  him, 
must  make  a  wound  incurable  in  one's  reputation  1  Then  must  it 
be  acknowledged,  that  this  is  indeed  a  fallen  world. 

Is  it  feared  that  religion  in  the  young  man  will  cramp  his  genius, 
and  stop  the  march  of  intellect  1  It  would  be  strange  indeed,  if  a 
taste  for  the  noblest  of  all  sciences,  the  knowledge  of  God  and  his 
truth,  should  narrow  the  mind,  and  limit  the  flight  of  genius. 
Such  a  result  would  contradict  all  experience,  and  give  the  lie  to 
the  first  principles  of  mental  science. 

Is  it  feared  that  piety  will  wither  and  paralyze  the  native  fear- 
lessness of  youth,  and  render  tame  and  cowardly  the  man  whose 
courage  and  daring  might  have  astonished  the  world  1  Does  then 
the  love  of  God,  the  very  principle  that  makes  alliance  with  the 
hosts  of  heaven,  and  with  God  himself,  dimmish  our  courage,  and 
make  us  fly  "when  no  man  pursuethl"  We  should  expect  it  to 
be  far  otherwise,  and  should  look  for  a  bravery  that  no  danger 
could  daunt,  when  there  is  for  our  defence  a  host  of  angels,  and 
One  "higher  than  the  highest."  The  Psalmist  reasoned  thus,  and 
said,  "  The  Lor*d  is  my  strength,  of  whom  shall  I  be  afraid  1"  And 


THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED.  113 

Paul  said,  "  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengthened 
me." 

What  is  it,  then,  that  in  the  esteem  of  the  ungodly,  renders  re- 
ligion so  uncomely  in  the  young  man  1  Where  does  it  fix  defor- 
mity 1  True,  it  does  render  him  less  covetous  of  this  world's 
goods,  and  less  ambitious  of  its  honors,  less  daring  in  its  deeds 
of  darkness,  less  deceitful,  and  less  intriguing.  But  is  he  the  less 
a  man  and  deserving  of  less  esteem  1  In  such  a  suggestion  there 
is  an  infidelity  too  bare-faced  to  be  hidden.  The  amount  of  it  is, 
that  piety  implies  the  fear  of  God  ;  and  this  is,  to  the  ungodly,  the 
most  offensive  of  all  attributes. 

The  text  will  lead  us  to  look  at  the  two  characters — the  youth 
who  sets  out  to  press  his  way  through  life  and  death  by  the  dint 
of  native  courage,  and  the  one  who  waits  on  the  Lord,  and  thus 
gathers  strength  from  heaven  to  bear  him  on  to  victory  and  glory. 

I  would  here  premise,  that  this  *is  a  stormy  life.  Upon  every 
man,  more  or  less,  the  tempests  will  beat.  Be  his  character  godly 
or  ungodly,  he  will  have  foes,  and  meet  dangers,  and  suffer  hard- 
ships, and  feel  afflictions,  and  will  say,  before  he  gets  through, 
that  he  is  passing  a  desert  world.  Now  we  must  encounter  the 
calamities  of  life  by  native  prowess,  or  by  the  courage  of  piety : 
Which  will  aid  us  the  best  1  This  is  the  question  which  I  wish 
may  be  pondered  with  solemnity  for  a  few  moments. 

/  shall  mention  some  of  the  storms  of  life,  that  we  shall  all  be  sure 
to  meet ;  and  inquire,  as  I  pass  on,  which  has  the  safest  defence — the 
mere  man  of  the  world,  or  the  man  of  piety. 

I.  We  shall  all  probably  part  with  beloved  friends.  The  ties 
tjiat  bind  them  to  us  are  slender,  the  sport  of  every  wind  that 
blows,  and  every  dew  that  falls.  They  are  ours  only  by  loan,  and 
must  be  resigned.  We  may  have  warnings  of  their  departure,  or 
may  have  none.  They  may  be  torn  from  us  at  the  moment  of  our 
highest  attachment — when  our  life  is  bound  up  in  theirs — when  it 
shall  seem  to  us  that  we  have  nothing  to  stay  for,  if  they  must  leave 
us.  This  calamity  will  certainly  come,  alike  upon  the  good  man 
and  the  unbeliever.  Which  will  sustain  it  best  1  They  stand  to- 
gether by  the  death-bed  of  a  mother,  a  father,  a  sister,  a  brother : 
they  have  the  same  instinctive  passions  ;  they  both  feel  the  stroke, 
and  must  try  to  outlive  it.  But  by  what  principles  shall  they  brace 
their  minds  against  the  storm  1 

The  unbeliever  may  hope  to  forget  his  sorrow,  or  find  some 
other  friend  as  good,  or  draw  from  something  else,  the  comfort  he 
15 


114  THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED. 

has  enjoyed  in  his  dying  friend.  But  all  this  is  a  distant  and  un- 
certain relief.  He  will  find  it  difficult  to  forget  his  friend,  and  he 
dare  not  wish  to,  and  months,  or  even  years,  must  elapse  before 
he  can  hope  to.  Nor  will  he  find  it  easy  to  supply  the  place  of 
his  friend.  Such  friends  do  not  rain  down  from  heaven,  do  not 
spring  up  from  the  ground,  cannot  be  bought.  A  mother,  for  in- 
stance,— who  can  supply  her  place  1  Who,  like  her,  will  wear  out 
her  nature  to  serve  you,  and  watch  by  your  sick  bed,  and  feel 
every  pang,  and  wipe  away  your  tears  1  What  friend  will  become 
dear  to  you  as  your  brother,  and  suffer  to  befriend  you,  and  endure 
any  thing  but  death  to  save  you  1  I  know  "  there  is  a  friend  that 
sticketh  closer  than  a  brother  ;"  but  he  is  the  friend  o-f  the  god- 
ly, not  yours.  And  you  will  find  it  difficult,  if  you  have  lost  a 
friend,  to  secure  the  same  amount  of  enjoyment  elsewhere. 
Friends  are  our  choicest  blessings.  Wealth  is  trash,  and  fame  is 
air ;  but  a  friend,  in  this  cold-hearted  world,  is  a  precious  pearl. 
See  then  how  distant  and  doubtful  is  the  consolation  of  the  un- 
godly. 

Take  some  of  the  still  nearer  and  dearer  friends,  and  the  case 
is  more  hopeless  still.  The  mother  must  see  her  child  taken  into 
the  cold  embrace  of  death.  And  she  tries,  does  shel  to  live 
through  it  without  divine  support.  Now  where  and  when  will  she 
find  one,  who  will  call  her  mother,  and  feel  her  pains,  and  watch 
her  tears,  and  sooth  her  miseries  1  Oh,  I  hear  her  say,  unless  she 
has  still  another  son,  "  My  gray  hairs  will  come  down  with  sorrow 
to  the  grave.  I  shall  go  weeping  to  the  sepulchre  for  my  son." 

Or  the  dying  friend  is  a  wife.  Go  now,  and  find,  if  you  can, 
one  who  will  be  a  mother  to  your  children.  Try  if  you  can  for- 
get her  endearments.  Try  if  you  can  find  in  any  other  object  th% 
amount  of  joy  you  had  in  her.  Oh,  how  the  agonies  of  the  ungod- 
ly wring  pity  from  our  hearts.  This  is  the  onset  when  "the 
youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and  the  young  men  shall  utterly 
fall."  No  native  vigor  can  enable  one  to  brow-beat  a  siorm  like 
this,  and  not  be,  in  the  result,  a  hopeless  and  desponding  sufferer. 
The  heart  loses  its  courage,  soon  as  it  enters  the  conflict.  No 
cold  philosophy  can  reason  down  affection,  or  mitigate-  the  agonies 
of  separation.  And  the  poor  surviver,  if  an  unbeliever,  can  only 
"  lie  down  in  sorrow." 

But  not  so  the  Christian,  who  waits  upon  the  Lord.  He  has  in 
heaven  a  better  Friend  than  he  has  lost,  and  can  smile  at  the 
ravages  of  death,  as  hurting  only  some  of  his  minor  interests.  He 
can  immediately  transfer  the  affection  he  fixed  upon  his  friend  to 


THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED.  115 

God ;  and  reap,  in  an  hour,  a  return  infinitely  better  than  any  fruits 
of  earthly  friendship.  He  holds  all  his  living  friends  as  the  loan 
of  Heaven,  ready  to  be  transferred  to  their  original  Proprietor. 
And  in  the  hour  of  trial  his  soul  utters  with  deep  sincerity,  "  The 
Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away ;  blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  He  has  not  to  wait  till  he  can  forget  his  friend,  or 
find  another,  or  procure  a  substitute.  He  "  waits  upon  the  Lord," 
and  is  thus  strengthened  for  the  hour,  and  becomes  happy  in  the 
midst  of  tears.  He  passes  through  the  waters,  but  God  is  with 
him ;  and  through  the  floods,  but  they  do  not  overflow  him.  He 
walks  through  the  fire,  but  is  not  burned,  neither  does  the  flame 
kindle  upon  him.  His  song  is,  "  The  Lord  liveth ;  and  blessed  be 
my  Rock ;  and  let  the  God  of  my  salvation  be  exalted.",  He  never 
calculated  on  any  very  durable  good  from  earthly  things,  as  does 
the  unrenewed  man.  Hence  he  is  not  disappointed.  His  best 
hopes  are  not  cut  off,  nor  his  richest  prospects  darkened.  God 
has  been  as  good  to  him  as  his  promises,  and  better  than  his  own 
fears.  His  trials  will  soon  end  in  heaven.  There  he  will  join  a 
circle  of  friends  to  whom  he  has  been  long  more  attached  than  to 
any  other.  Thus  he  mounts  as  on  eagles'  wings,  scales  the  very 
heavens,  runs  and  is  not  weary,  walks  and  is  not  faint. 

At  how  many  funerals  have  we  witnessed  this  wide  contrast  be- 
tween the  native  prowess  of  a  mind  unsanctified,  and  the  fortitude 
of  a  man  of  God  strengthened  for  the  trial  by  the  light  of  his 
countenance. 

Come,  then,  my  young  friends,  let  me  assure  you,  how  only  you 
can  be  happy  in  the  hour  of  bereavement.  You  may  suppress  your 
tears  when  you  attend  the  funeral  of  your  mother,  or  your  brother, 
but  nature  will  feel.  You  may  put  on  the  stoic,  but  the  heart  will 
bleed.  You  may  try  to  cheer  your  spirits,  but  your  strength  will 
fail,  unless  God,  in  that  hour,  is  your  refuge,  your  very  present 
help.  If  you  intend  to  live  without  him,  you  need  hope  for  no- 
thing but  that  his  waves  and  his  billows  will  often  come  over  you, 
while  there  will  be  no  comforter.  You  have  twenty  dear  friends, 
and  one  may  die  each  year,  these  twenty  years ;  and  ere  then  you 
may  die  yourself.  Thus  the  heart  will  bleed,  and  you  will  be  cov- 
ered with  the  weeds  of  death  all  the  way  to  the  sepulchre.  I 
should  not  choose  to  be  one  of  your  friends,  unless  I  could  believe 
that  you  would  think  of  me  when  I  was  gone  one  year  j  that  my 
funeral  solemnities  would  create  a  cloud,  that  would  cast  its  shade 
upon  you  till  the  sun  had  performed  at  least  one  annual  revolution. 
Let  each  friend  make  the  same  demand,  and  you  have  no  divine 


116  THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED. 

support  under  your  bereavements,  and  you  readily  see  that  the 
whole  of  life  is  a  cloudy  and  dark  day. 

I  have  noticed  yet  the  loss  of  friends  by  death  only  5  but  we  may 
lose  them  more  tremendously  by  desertion.  Let  the  hour  come 
when  it  shall  not  be  popular  to  be  your  friend,  and  when  many 
who  have  sought  your  acquaintance,  and  received  your  hospitality, 
and  waited  to  know  and  do  your  pleasure,  shall  hide  their  face 
from  you  j  then  is  the  hour  when  "  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be 
weary,  and  the  young  men  shall  utterly  fall ;  but  they  that  wait 
upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength  j  they  shall  mount  up 
with  wings  as  eagles ;  they  shall  run  and  not  be  weary,  and  they 
shall  walk  and  not  faint."  I  know  there  is  a  buoyancy  in  the  hu- 
man heart, %that  may  seem  for  a  moment  to  sustain  you.  You  can 
despise  the  man  whose  sycophancy  deceived  you,  but  who  was 
never  your  friend,  and  has  now  only  uncovered  to  you  the  rotten- 
ness of  his  heart.  You  can  resolve  to  despise  the  men  who  are 
the  friends  of  your  prosperity,  but  not  of  your  adversity ;  and  they 
deserve  to  be  despised :  but  you  will  feel  a  pain  dart  through  you 
in  that  hour,  which  you  must  sustain,  either  by  your  native  prow- 
ess or  by  a  higher  courage.  Would  you  trust  in  an  arm  of  flesh  1 
Ah !  but  this  arm  fails  you ;  and  then,  where  will  you  lean  1  Now, 
the  good  man  has  no  misgivings  in  such  an  hour.  With  him  it  is 
a  living  maxim,  "  it 'is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged 
of  you,  or  of  man's  judgment ;  but  he  that  judgeth  me  is  the  Lord." 
Paul  could  keep  up  all  his  courage  while  in  the  midst  of  a  people 
who  not  long  before  would  have  plucked  out  their  eyes  and  given 
them  to  him,  but  were  now  become  his  enemies  because  he  told 
them  the  truth.  And  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  had  all  the  ten- 
derness of  our  nature,  could,  without  despair,  hear  the  cry,  "  Cru- 
cify him  !  crucify  him !  "  uttered  by  that  same  multitude  whose 
blind  he  had  made  to  see,  whose  lame  to  walk,  whose  lepers  he 
had  cleansed,  whose  sick  he  had  healed,  and  whose  dead  he  had 
raised.  All  this  one  can  easily  sustain  who  has  an  almighty  friend 
in  heaven.  He  can  pour  a  holy  contempt  upon  the  wavering  men 
who  have  no  principle,  and  will  desert  him  when  he  needs  thek 
friendship  most.  He  can  stand  erect,  because  God  is  with  him. 
But  how  can  you  stand,  who  have  no  such  friend,  but  whose  whole 
kindred  are  in  this  deceitful  world  1  Here  is  the  spot  where 
it  will  again  happen  that  "  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and 
the  young  men  shall  utterly  fall ;  but  they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord 
shall  renew  their  strength ;  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as 
eagles ;  they  shall  run  and  not  be  weary  ;  and  they  shall  walk  and 
not  faint." 


THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED.  117 

II.  Amid  the  changes  of  this  ill-fated  world  we  shall  all  be  liable 
to  suffer  the  loss  of  property.  No  treasure  but  that  which  is  laid 
up  in  heaven  is  secure :  our  houses  may  burn  down  over  our  heads ; 
our  streams  may  fail ;  a  foe  may  rob  us  of  our  rights  j  we  may  be 
called  to  spend  all  we  have  upon  physicians  5  we  may  lose  our 
spirit  of  enterprise ;  our  reason  may  desert  us.  All  the  good 
things  of  this  life  are  ready  to  take  wings  and  fly  away. 

Now,  can  the  man  who  has  no  treasure  in  heaven  sustain  his 
spirit,  as  can  the  man  of  faith  and  of  prayer  1  By  what  consider- 
ation can  he  comfort  his  soul,  when  ye  shall  have  taken  away  his 
gods  1  When  he  is  robbed  of  his  best  treasures,  of  all  he  has  in 
the  life  that  now  is,  while  he  has  nothing  in  the  life  to  come,  how 
can  he  fail  to  sink  1  Says  the  sacred  penman,  "  Their  rock  is  not 
as  our  Rock,  our  enemies  themselves  being  judges."  He  who  has 
no  interest  in  that  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  hea- 
vens, how  can  he  part  with  his  temporal  habitation  ?  He  who  has 
no  treasure  which  moth  and  rust  cannot  corrupt,  how  can  he  part 
with  his  corruptible  riches  1  He  who  has  no  greatness  or  glory 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,  how  Can  he  dispense  with  that  which  ren- 
ders him  great  in  the  present  world  1  Made  once  poor  for  time, 
how  can  he  hope  for  any  thing  else  but  eternal  bankruptcy  !  If  he 
should  hope  to  rise  again,  still  this  is  "  a  hope  deferred  which  mak- 
eth  the  heart  sick."  If  he  try  to  be  great  in  his  poverty,  still,  in 
a  world  like  this,  he  will  find  it  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible.  If 
he  would  try  to  be  happy,  while  yet  he  is  small,  here  pride  erects 
an  insurmountable  barrier.  He  lacks  all  the  means  of  being  happy. 
The  good  he  values,  his  only  good,  is  gone.  The  heaven  he  built 
for  himself  had  no  foundation,  and  the  storms  have  swept  it  away. 
Poor  soul,  how  completely  is  he  made  a  bankrupt  and  a  beggar ! 
and  how  impossible  that  he  should  retrieve  his  circumstances,  till 
he  is  altered  essentially  in  his  disposition  and  character ! 

But  things  are  not  thus  desperate  with  the  good  man  when  he 
finds  his  estate  diminished.  We  read  of  those  who  "took  joyfully 
the  spoiling  of  their  goods,  knowing  in  themselves  that  they  had 
in  heaven  a  better  and  an  enduring  substance."  The  friends  of 
God  have  laid  up  for  themselves  "  treasures  in  heaven,  where  nei- 
ther moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  nor  steal."  They  have  provided  themselves  with  "  gar- 
ments that  wax  not  old,"  and  have  "  a  house  not  built  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens."  In  the  midst  of  losses  they  often  see  that 
the'riches  they  have  parted  with  stood  between,  them  and  God, 
and  made  them  less  happy  and  less  holy  than  they  may  be  with- 


118  THE   TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED. 

out  them.  They  held  the  heart  divided,  and  kept  it  cold,  and 
worldly,  and  selfish,  and  sordid.  Now  the  clog  is  removed,  and 
they  can  mount  up  as  on  the  wings  of  eagles.  They  have  now 
nothing  but  heaven  to  care  for ;  what  they  have  lost  they  could  have 
used  but  a  little  while,  and  they  can  mount  higher  without  it. 
They  still  have  all  that  God  ever  promised ;  their  bread  and  their 
water  is  made  sure.  If  they  can  never  be  rich  here,  still  they  can  . 
hope  for  durable  riches  and  righteousness  in  the  life  to  come.  If 
they  must  toil  hard,  still  their  rest  will  at  last  be  long  and  sweet. 
If  they  must  be  small  and  unnoticed,  still  there  awaits  them  "  a 
crown  of  glory  "  in  the  life  to  come.  Thus,  how  evident  that  no 
native  prowess  can  enable  one  to  conflict  with  the  storms  of  life 
like  the  grace  of  God. 

III.  But  let  us  try  the  prowess  of  the  two  champions  in  another 
conflict.  While  one  storm  shall  beat  upon  friendship,  and  another  . 
upon  property,  another  still  may  make  its  assault  upon  character. 
This  you  know  is  valuable  as  life.  "  A  good  name  is  better  than 
precious  ointment."  Being  depraved,  we  are  vulnerable  at  every 
point.  "  There  is  no  man  that  liveth  and  doeth  good  and  sinneth 
not."  We  .break  the  laws  of  God  and  of  man  ;  we  violate  the  dic- 
tates of  conscience,  and  the  rules  of  righteousness  ;  and  that  man 
knows  nothing  of  himself,  that  does  not  acknowledge  all  this, — 
hence  we  become  justly  exposed.  Men  can  injure  us,  and  say  the 
truth. 

But  what  is  more  yet,  the  utmost  uprightness  of  character  does 
not  secure  from  the  attack  of  slander.  If  men  cannot  find  enough 
that  is  true,  they  can  unblushingly  fabricate  the  rest.  And  no 
man,  godly  or  ungodly,  is  wholly  secure.  The  godly  are  fore- 
warned, that  as  men  have  called  the  Master  of  the  house  of  Beel- 
zebub, so  much  rather  will  they  calumniate  the  household.  And 
now,  which,  think  you,  will  be  the  best  support  through  this  storm, 
native  prowess,  or  supernatural  grace  1  You  have  known  the  un- 
godly man  to  be  slandered.  Men  have  accused  him  of  deeds  he 
never  did,  have  wronged  him,  and  abused  him.  And  he  set  him- 
self to  oppose  the  tempest.  He  cursed  his  accusers,  and  returned 
every  blow  they  dealt,  and  raved  at  the  foe,  and  sinned  more 
grossly  than  he  ever  had  before.  He  plotted  revenge,  and  pursued 
it,  and  perhaps  obtained  it.  But  after  all  was  done,  was  he  not 
rather  the  vanquished  "than  the  conqueror  1  Did  he  stand  on  more 
elevated  ground  when  he  quit,  than  when  he  began  the  conflict  1 


THE   TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED.  119 

Ah,  he  overcame  the  evil  with  evil,  and  sunk  the  deeper  by  his  at- 
tempts to  rise. 

Let  us  view  the  most  favorable  case.  The  man  abused  is  un- 
godly, but  has  the  properties  that  constitute  an  amiable  man.  He 
meets  the  assault  with  all  the  calmness  and  all  the  patience  he  can 
command.  He  reasons,  "If  they  destroy  my  reputation,  they  take 
my  interest  too,  and  then  what  have  I  left."  Having  no  sense  of 
sin,  he  is  not  humble,  and  will  not  be  very  patient.  He  will  not 
exercise  a  spirit  of  forgiveness,  nor  a  spirit  of  meekness,  nor  see 
the  wisdom  of  God  in  the  appointment,  nor  hope  for  an  augmenta- 
tion of  his  enjoyments  as  the  final  result.  Hence  he  must  be  un- 
happy and  must  be  a  loser.  His  courage  may  in  a  sense  sustain 
him,  but  while  he  stands  he  will  still  be  wounded,  and  perhaps  de- 
stroyed. 

Now  the  man  of  God  in  such  a  conflict  has  a  heavenly  armor. 
In  the  very  onset  he  takes  the  shield  of  faith.  He  is  patient,  be- 
cause he  sees  it  to  be  the  hand  of  God.  He  is  calm  from  the  con- 
viction, that,  dark  as  the  storm  may  lower,  he  is  safe.  If  his  cha- 
racter should  be  injured,  it  only  assimilates  his  condition  to  that 
of  his  divine  Lord.  He  has  that  sense  of  sin  that  renders  him 
humble.  He  exercises  a  spirit  of  meekness  and  of  forgiveness,  and 
this  renders  him  happy.  In  the  event,  as  a  divine  appointment,  he 
sees  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  hopes  and  believes  that  in  the  issue 
God  will  be  glorified,  and  his  own  best  good  promoted.  "  To 
me,"  he  can  say  with  the  apostle,  "  it  is  a  very  light  thing  that  I 
should  be  judged  of  you,  or  of  man's  judgment."  Can  he  only 
hope  to  stand  approved  in  the  last  great  day,  all  decisions  of  falli- 
ble men  to  the  contrary,  have  not,  with  him,  the  weight  of  a 
feather. 

Would  an  angel  care,  if  the  whole  population  of  this  world 
should  assemble  in  a  mass,  and  pronounce  him  a  sinner  or  a  fool ! 
He  would  know  that  he  might  still  hold  the  same  standing  in  the 
sight  of  God.  So  the  man  of  faith  can  soar  and  act  the  angel  in 
the  hour  of  onset.  He  does  not,  and  dares  not  depend  on  any  na- 
tive strength  of  his  own,  "  but  waits  upon  the  Lord,  and  renews 
his  strength." 

IV.  We  are  all  liable  to  disease  and  death.  God  has  not  ex- 
empted his  people,  and  certainly  not  his  enemies,  from  this  cala- 
mity. Disease  and  death  are  the  wages  of  sin.  And  here  it  often 
happens  literally,  that  "  even  the  youths  are  faint  and  weary."  We 
have  seen  nature  struggling  with  disease  even  in  the  very  morn- 


120  THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED. 

ing  of  life.  The  young  man,  strong  and  vigorous  to-day,  panting 
for  breath  to-morrow,  and  in  a  few  days  sinking  into  an  untimely 
sepulchre. 

Now  the  man  who  hopes  to  meet  all  this  by  native  courage,  it 
would  seem  must  be  destitute  of  the  power  of  reasoning.  The 
very  nature  of  the  calamity  augurs  that  he  will  have  neither 
strength  nor  courage  to  bear  it.  It  is  the  very  first  effect  of  dis- 
ease to  render  faint  and  weary — to  dishearten  and  unnerve.  The 
veriest  Goliath  is  a  child,  when  he  wrestles  with  the  plague  or  the 
pestilence.  How  then  can  he  stand  in  the  contest  1 

The  mind  is  enfeebled  with  the  body :  hence  he  cannot  reason 
down  his  alarms  and  his  apprehensions;  cannot  sustain  his  own 
sinking  spirits.  He  who  a  few  days  since  would  not  have  feared 
to  meet  single-handed  the  hardiest  foe  that  might  take  the  field, 
cannot  now  raise  his  head,  and  is  in  fear,  where  no  danger  is.  He 
may  have  some  consolation  from  the  hope  of  recovery.  But  this 
one  hope,  tremulous  and  often  forlorn,  is  the  only  stay  of  his  soul 
that  remains.  If  he  must  die,  he  is  lost  for  ever. 

But  here  the  man  of  God  does  not  thus  sink  and  perish.  He  is 
conscious  that  he  deserves  the  chastisement ;  hence  has  no  quarrel 
with  the  power  that  afflicts.  He  submits  and  is  calm.  He  has  the 
promise  that  God  will  sustain  him,  will  be  with  him  in  six  troubles* 
and  in  seven  will  not  forsake  him.  "  When  flesh  and  heart  fail 
him,  God  will  be  the  strength  of  his  heart  and  his  portion  for  ever, 
— all  things  shall  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God ;" 
and  these  promises  were  all  made  with  design  to  be  fulfilled. 
Hence  the  good  man,  when  he  suffers,  can  leave  himself  with  God. 
Every  care  and  every  interest  he  rolls  over  upon  his  generous  and 
almighty  Supporter.  To  him  "  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is 
gain."  He  can  cheerfully  wait  his  "appointed  time,"  and  can 
hope  that  there  is  laid  up  for  him  "a  crown  of  life  that  fadeth 
not." 

But  what  is  over  and  above  all  this,  he  enjoys  the  smiles  of  God. 
These  lighten  his  pains  and  give  him  joy  and  peace.  Hence  sung 
the  weeping  poet, 

"  The  chamber  where  the  good  man  meets  his  fate, 
Is  privileged  beyond  the  common  walk 
Of  virtuous  life,  quite  on  the  verge  of  heaven." 

On  the  very  dying-bed  have  we  heard  the  triumphant  song,  "  I 
mount,  I  fly."  Infidelity  may  declare  all  this  visionary ;  but  it  is 
none  the  less  a  reality.  It  is  what  God  has  promised,  what  his 


THE    TWO   CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED.  121 

people  expect,  what  the  diseased  and  the  dying  have  told  us  they 
enjoyed,  and  is  no  more  incredible  than  the  new  birth,  at  which 
the  ruler  of  the  Jews  marvelled. 

Now  take  from  the  mass  of  the  ungodly  the  sturdiest  youth  you 
can  name,  and  let  him  go  to  his  chamber  and  grapple  with  disease 
and  death  j  and  place  in  the  adjoining  chamber  the  man  of  prayer, 
in  precisely  the  same  distressing  attitude  ;  and  tell  me  which  shall 
have  the  palm.  The  one  shall  use  all  his  native  mind  and  muscle, 
shall  brace  himself  against  the  paroxysms  of  disease,  and  cheer  up 
his  spirits,  and  resist  the  fear  of  death,  and  to  the  full  extent  of 
his  power,  stay  his  false  hope,  and  wake  up  his  courage.  His 
brave  associates  shall  come  round  him  and  ply  their  sophistry  to 
put  down  his  pains,  and  put  out  the  eye  of  conscience,  and  hide 
hell  from  him,  and  God  from  him,  and  his  own  history  from  him. 
And  no  Bible  shall  be  near  him,  nor  pastor  near  him,  nor  prayers 
be  offered.  He  shall  have  through  the  whole  conflict  all  the  help 
that  earth  and  hell  can  give  him.  The  other  shall  but  make  use 
of  prayer  and  faith,  shall  stay  himself  upon  his  Eedeemer,  and 
encourage  himself  in  the  Lord  his  God,  and  cast  the  anchor  of  his 
hope  within  the  veil.  Now  tell  me  which  of  the  two  will  triumph 
in  the  storm.  Ah  !  I  see  the  strong  one  bow.  Ye  that  hate  the 
Lord,  let  me  assure  you,  your  champion  is  foiled  in  the  contest, 
"  Even  the  youths  shall  faint." 

V.  I  have  thought  of  several  other  occasions  where  the  ungodly 
man  and  the  man  of  faith  will  have  opportunity  to  test  their  prow- 
ess in  the  same  conflict,  but  I  will  add  only  one.  They  must  both 
pass  the  review  of  the  last  judgment.  "  We  must  all  stand  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Christ."  And  to  set  any  value  upon  a  spirit 
of  enterprise  or  of  daring,  that  will  not  carry  us  through  that  last 
scene,  is  to  play  the  fool.  I  wish  to  cultivate  the  principles  that 
will  carry  me  through. 

Now  follow,  if  you  please,  one  of  the  most  daring  of  the  unbe- 
lievers to  the  last  tribunal.  How  will  he  manage  there  1  Can  he 
hide  his  sins  ?.  Can  he  palliate  them,  or  neutralize  them  1  Can 
he  prove  that  the  law  was  too  severe,  or  the  penalty  unjust  1  Can 
he  offer  any  eloquent  plea  why  he  should  be  acquitted  1  Will  any 
angel  plead  for  him  ?.  Will  the  blessed  Redeemer  be  his  advocate  1 
Will  his  courage  live  ajid  thrive  in  that  conflict  1  If  weighed  in  the 
balance,  will  he  not  be  found  wanting  1  If  convicted,  will  not  sen- 
tence go  forth  against  him  1  Will  devils  be  afraid  to  convey  him  to 
the  place  of  torment  1  Suppose  him,  if  you  please,  to  have  weathered 
•  16 


122  THE    TWO    CHAMPIONS    CONTRASTED. 

every  other  storm,  how  will  he  conflict  with  "  everlasting  burn- 
ings 1  By  what  daring  arguments  will  he  keep  hope  alive  in  hell, 
and  resist  the  embrace  of  despair,  or  put  out  the  "  unquenchable 
fires  ?"  Come,  ye  that  intend  to  brave  it  through  without  grace, 
that  dare  to  live,  and  expect  to  die,  without  an  interest  in  the 
Lord  Jesus,  approach  the  precincts  of  the  pit,  and  inquire  how 
your  champion  fares  in  this  last  conflict !  Does  he  stand  or  fall  1 
Does  his  courage  abide  by  him  1  May  you  venture,  or  not,  to  join 
your  destiny  with  his  1  Let  this  point  be  settled  before  you  ven- 
ture into  your  dying  chamber  without  the  grace  of  God. 

And  how  does  it  fare  with  the  man  of  faith  in  the  same  conflict  1 
He  ventures  not  to  come  to  the  judgment-seat  alone,  supported  by 
any  courage  which  his  depraved  heart  can  generate.  He  comes 
clothed  with  a  Savior's  righteousness,  owns  his  guilt,  and  pleads 
the  atoning  blood  of  the  Redeemer.  When  bid,  "  Come,  ye  blessed 
of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  5"  his  reply  is  "  When  saw  we  thee  an 
hungered,  and  fed  thee  1  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink  1  When 
saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  1  or  naked  and  clothed 
thee  1  Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came  unto 
thee  V  Then  will  be  heard  from  the  throne  of  judgment,  "  Inas- 
much as  you  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  You  recollect  the  amazing 
result.  They  who  come  to  that  throne  in  their  own  name,  and 
hoped  to  stand  by  their  own  native  prowess,  "  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels" 

Let  me  say,  then,  fellow-sinner,  while  you  resolve  to  trust  in 
man,  or  in  any  thing  short  of  an  omnipotent  Savior,  there  remains 
for  you  "no  hope  "  but  a  "fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and 
fiery  indignation."  If  it  seem  to  you,  however,  that  your  cause 
will  succeed,  you  have  only  to  make  the  trial.  Storms  will  beat 
upon  you  :  but  if  you  still  think  your  own  heart  can  generate  all 
the  prowess  you  shall  need  in  the  conflicts  of  life,  and  death,  and 
judgment,  then  you  must  try.  It  is  my  duty,  however,  to  assure 
you,  "  that  even  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and  the  young 
men  shall  utterly  fall." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  "  strong  consolation  to  you  who 
trust  in  the  Lord"  The  promise  is,  that  "  you  shall  mount  up  on 
wings  as  eagles,  shall  run  and  not  be  weary,  and  walk  and  not 
faint."  Now  God  will  dp  all  that  he  has  said  ;  will  succor  you 
as  he  has  promised,  will  enlighten  your  darkness,  will  provide  you 
a  retreat  in  temptation,  will  cover  your  head  in  the  day  of  battle, 


THE   TWO    CHAMPIONS   CONTRASTED.  123 

will  give  his  angels  charge  concerning  you,  and  in  their  hands 
they  shall  bear  you  up,  till  you  have  trodden  the  whole  desert 
through,  and  passed  over  Jordan,  and  entered  the  New  Jerusalem, 
to  go  no  more  out  for  ever. 

While,  then,  "  the  wicked  perish  at  the  presence  of  God" — while  it 
becomes  them  to  "  weep  and  howl  for  their  miseries  that  shall  come 
upon  them" — "  let  the  righteous  be  glad  ;  let  them  rejoice  before  God  ; 
yea,  let  them  exceedingly  rejoice" 


SERMON   VIII. 
THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH. 

PSALM    CXIX.    25. 

My  soul  cleaveth  unto  the  dust :  quicken  thou  me  according  to  thy  word. 

THE  Christian  is  a  man  of  heavenly  birth.  That  world  where 
Christ  is  he  considers  his  home,  and,  till  he  arrives  there,  he  views 
himself  a  pilgrim  and  a  stranger.  There  are  his  best  friends,  there. 
he  has  deposited  his  treasures,  and  thither  faith  often  directs  his 
flight,  and  fixes  his  delightful  gaze.  Hence  the  Christian  is  never 
more  unhappy  than  when  he  becomes  attached  to  the  things  of  the 
earth.  If  the  dove  should  lose  her  wings,  with  which  she  used  to 
soar  among  the  branches,  and  be  constrained  to  crawl  with  rep- 
tiles, and  feed  on  the  serpent's  food,  she  would  not  be  more  expa- 
triated, than  the  man  of  heavenly  birth  when  cleaving  to  the  dust. 
Such  a  state,  guilty  as  he  may  be  in  every  step  of  his  decline,  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  his  choice.  It  is  a  state  over  which  he  mourns, 
and  at  which  he  is  himself  astonished.  He  is  dissatisfied,  and,  like 
a  dislocated  bone,  aches  to  be  restored.  If  he  should  find  him- 
self contented  and  happy,  while  alienated  from  God,  it  would  cut 
off  his  last  shred  of  hope.  The  less  he  hopes,  and  the  more  un- 
happy, the  more  hopeful  is  his  case. 

The  text  contains  a  confession,  a  prayer,  and  a  plea. 

I.  It  contains  a  confession,  "  My  soul  cleaveth  to  the  dust."  The 
Psalmist  felt  that  his  mind  had  become  sordid.  The  things  of  the 
earth  occupied  too  much  his  attention,  and  engrossed  too  exclu- 
sively his  affections ;  and  the  dreadful  consequence  was  that  he 
lost  his  relish  for  heavenly  things.  He  was,  in  his  own  esteem,  a 
wretched  outcast,  and  calculated  to  remain  a  vagabond  till  God 
should  be  pleased  to  quicken  him.  If  any  would  know  whether 
this  is  their  state,  I  will  endeavor  to  afford  them  help.  It  is  a  dis- 
eased state  of  a  heavenly  mind,  and  the  disease,  like  all  others,  has 
its  peculiar  characteristics. 

1.  One  in  such  a  state  will  neglect  duty.  It  is  a  burden,  because 
there  is  no  pleasure  felt  in  the  performance.  Thus  he  may  justify 
his  neglect,  and  may  half  believe  that  what  he  thought  duty,  in 


THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH.        125 

the  days  of  his  espousals,  was  a  mistake.  But  surely,  then  was 
the  time,  and  not  now,  to  decide  what  is  duty.  Then  the  con- 
science was  tender,  then  was  felt  a  lively  gratitude,  and  a  strong 
sense  of  obligation.  Then  the  rules  of  duty,  as  far  as  they  were 
known,  were  regarded.  The  question  then  is,  what  did  we  think 
to  be  duty  in  the  day  of  our  espousals  to  Christ'?  Do  we  act,  as 
we  then  resolved  to  act  in  all  the  varied  relationship  of  life,  and 
especially  in  our  relationship  to  Christ  1  Do  we  pray  as  often  and 
as  fervently  1  Do  we  read  the  Scriptures  as  diligently  and  as 
prayerfully  1  Do  we  walk  as  circumspectly  1  Are  we  as  faithful 
to  admonish,  as  free  to  speak,  for  God,  as  diligent  in  searching  the 
heart  1  And  is  the  thought  of  sin  repelled  with  that  promptness 
and  with  that  holy  decision  exercised  during  the  first  week  of  our 
regenerate  state  1  Or  do  we  cleave  to  the  dust  1  Then  we  soared 
on  heavenly  wings,  our  conversation  was  above,  our  treasures 
there,  our  home  there,  our  all  there. 

If  you  doubt,  whether  in  the  fervency  of  your  first  love  was  the 
time  to  fix  the  laws  of  duty,  I  ask  when  can  we  best  judge  how 
worthy  God  is  to  be  loved  and  served,  if  not  when  our  hearts  have 
been  warmed  with  his  love  1  When  would  you  be  willing  that 
your  friend  should  decide  how  he  should  treat  you  1  When  his 
attachment  was  strong,  or  when,  for  some  assignable  cause,  his 
affections  had  become  alienated  1  The  amount  of  these  remarks 
is,  God  has  given  us  general  laws,  and  commissioned  conscience 
to  apply  them  to  our  particular  circumstances.  When  shall  con- 
science enter  upon  this  duty  1  If  when  tender,  and  before  it  has 
been  injured  by  the  coldness  and  wickedness  of  a  relapsed  state, 
how  will  matters  stand  with  us,  as  it  regards  the  discharge  of  duty, 
on  measuring  ourselves  by  this  rule  1 

2.  A  state  of  relapse  is  generally  marked  by  a  heartless  perform- 
ance of  those  duties  which  are  not  entirely  neglected.  A  wander- 
ing mind  in  prayer,  accompanied  with  deadness,  dulness,  formality, 
and  a  total  absence  of  all  that  fervor,  affection,  tenderness,  and 
heavenly  aspiration  which  characterize  the  duties  of  the  saint 
awake,  are  the  dire  symptoms  of  this  disease  of  the  soul.  As  an 
observing  believer  once  remarked,  "  Christians  in  such  a  state 
pray  as  if  they  were  not  acquainted  with  God."  They  do  not  go 
to  him  melted  with  filial  affection.  They  lie  like  slaves  beneath 
the  throne.  Ask  them  to  pray,  and  they  exhibit  guilt ;  and  come 
to  the  mercy-seat,  as  the  convict  approaches  the  gallows,  with  the 
halter  about  his  neck.  They  will  hide  in  corners  that  they  may 
not  be  asked  to  officiate  in  the  duties  of  religion,  and  consider  it  a 


126       THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH. 

calamity  to  be  discovered.  They  are  sometimes  distressed  at  the 
approach  of  the  communion  season.  They  are  too  guilty  to  have 
a  right  there,  and  too  dull  to  have  an  errand  there.  The  very  Sab- 
bath aggravates  their  miseries,  by  compelling  them  to  attend  to 
duties  for  which  they  have  lost  the  relish.  Thus  the  frost  of  an 
untimely  winter  chills  every  duty,  and  blights  every  privilege. 

3.  The  state  I  describe  is  always  attended  with  a  pressure  of 
worldly  care.     The  mind  ever  presses  after  some  object.     To  the 
believer,  acting  in  character,   God  is  that  object.     His  heart  is 
above,  his  hopes  are  there,  and  there  centre  his  warmest  affec- 
tions.    But  when  he  descends  from  that  centre,  he  comes  within 
the  attraction  of  earth,  and  basely  gives  the  creature  those  affec- 
tions he  used  to  fix  on  God.     It  is  as  true  that  where  the  heart  is 
there  will  his  treasures  be,  as  that  where  the  treasure  is  there  will 
the  heart  be.     And  our  treasure  will  always  need  our  care,  will 
engross  our  time,  and  employ  our  energies.     Hence  the  Christian 
whose  faith  is  low,  and  who  lets  go  his  grasp  of  heaven,  as  neces- 
sarily becomes  a  worldling,  as  the  man  who  has  never  risen  above 
the  clod  he  treads.     How  long  he  may  remain  astray  is  uncertain, 
surely  not  so  long  but  that  God  will  quicken  him  before  he  die. 
But  his  injured  Lord  may  bring  him  back  with  stripes.     The  more 
he  loves  his  children,  the  more  certain  is  it  that  he  will  chastise 
them.     Probably  not  long  will  he  be  permitted  to  be  a  worldling, 
if  God  has  intended  any  very  eminent  station  for  him  in  heaven. 

4.  The  wandering  believer  must  be  the  subject  of  small  enjoy- 
ments*    The  new-born  man  can  never  love  this  poor  world  with  all 
his  heart.     He  could  have  a  higher  relish  for  its  pleasures  if  he 
had  never  known  a  better  good,  if  he  had  never  had  a  glimpse  of 
heaven.     The  peasant  is  quite  content  with  his  cottage,  but  make 
him  once  a  prince,  and  then  reduce  him  to  poverty,  and  his  cot- 
tage has  lost  all  its  charms.    He  may  through  necessity  tarry,  there, 
but  it  can  never  be  animated  as  it  used  to  be  with  his  smiles,  and 
his  songs.     So  the  Christian,  however  worldly  he  may  become, 
however  sordid  and  terrine,  can  never  entirely  forget  that  in  hea- 
ven he  has  a  better  home.     Having  made  by  faith  one  excursion 
into  the  third  heavens,  it  must  be  impossible  that  he  should  after- 
ward do  anything  more  than  pitch  his  tent  below  ;  he  cannot  pro- 
ject the  idea  of  a  permanent  home  in  a  world  that  loves  him  so 
little,  or  rather  hates  him  so  cordially.     Hence  the  impenitent  man 
can  find  in  earthly  things  a  more  satisfying  good  than  the  strayed 
believer. 


THE    SOUL    RELUCTANTLY    MADE    FAST    TO    EARTH.  12T 

And  while  he  is  thus  forbidden  to  be  happy  in  the  things  of 
earth,  he  is  also  cut  off  from  any  sweet  intercourse  with  Heaven. 
He  loses  his  hope  of  future  blessedness.  And  the  more  readily  he 
relinquishes  a  hope  which  has  no  present  holiness  of  life  for  its 
support,  the  better  evidence  will  he  give  that  Christ  is  formed  in 
him  the  hope  of  glory.  He  in  this  gives  evidence  that  he  under- 
stands the  nature  of  holiness  :  that  it  must  bear  fruit.  Or  he  may 
retain  his  hope,  but  it  will  not  be  very  big  with  consolations.  His 
spring  of  comforts  is  dried  up.  The  Sabbath  used  to  be  to  him  a 
day  of  holy,  happy  rest,  but  now  its  hours  are  dark,  and  disturbed 
with  the  goadings  of  a  guilty  conscience.  The  gospel  was  once 
to  him  a  river  of  life.  He  guided  his  steps  by  its  precepts  ;  he 
hung  his  hopes  on  its  promises  ;  he  fed  his  soul  on  its  doctrines, 
and  his  prospects  were  illumined  by  its  prophecies.  He  heard  it 
with  joy,  considered  it  the  voice  of  Heaven,  and  pressed  it  to  his 
bosom  as  his  richest  treasure.  Now  it  has  become  a  sealed  book, 
a  dead  letter.  In  the  ordinances,  he  used  to  banquet  with  his 
Lord,  forgot  his  cares,  softened  his  trials,  had  sweet  foretastes  of 
heaven,  and  stanched  every  wound  with  the  balm  of  life.  But 
they  are  now  become  mere  beggarly  elements.  The  closet  is 
covered  with  the  darkness  of  Egypt ;  where  he  used  to  be  so  happy, 
where  he  caught  his  prospects  of  heaven,  where  he  often  wept 
away  his  miseries,  and  had  enjoyments  with  which  the  stranger 
intermeddleth  not.  His  alliance  to  the  saints,  once  the  sweetest 
bond  on  earth,  has  lost  almost  all  its  charms.  Thus  the  saint 
relapsed  is  cut  off  from  the  enjoyments  of  both  worlds.  His  con- 
version has  spoiled  the  present  world,  that  it  cannot  be  to  him  a 
source  of  high  delight,  and  his  relapse  has  placed  a  cloud  between 
him  and  heaven.  A  heavenly  mind  in  such  a  state,  is  more  an  ob- 
ject of  commiseration  than  any  other  on  which  the  sun,  in  all  his 
course,  can  look.  To  cleave  to  the  earth  after  being  born  of  God, 
is  a  fall,  like  which,  there  has  been  nothing  similar  since  the  angels 
made  their  bed  in  hell. 

The  moral  disease,  which  I  have  thus  endeavored  to  describe, 
is  prevalent,  contagious,  sinful,  and  ruinous.  It  is,  in  every  view 
we  can  take,  the  deadliest  plague  that  ever  spent  its  fury  upon  a 
heaven-born  soul. 

It  is  prevalent — many  of  our  churches  throng  with  professors 
who  are  so  earthly  and  sensual  as  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  mass  from  which  they  have  been  selected.  And  it  sometimes 
happens  in  a  Church,  that  there  are  so  few  that  may  be  considered 
exceptions,  that  one  would  suppose  they  had  acted  in  concert,  and 


128  THE    SOUL    RELUCTANTLY    MADE    FAST    TO    EARTH. 

had  agreed,  unanimously,  to  become  apostates.  Were  not  the 
evil  so  prevalent  it  would  bg  less  deplorable.  Could  we  always  be 
sure  that  there  were  enough  awake  to  watch  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  the  danger  would  diminish ;  they  might  exert  an  agency, 
if  any  foe  approached,  to  arouse  their  brethren.  The  very  savages 
could  teach  us  a  lesson.  When  they  meet  to  indulge  themselves 
in  the  pleasures  of  inebriation,  they  are  careful  to  select  several 
of  their  company,  who  shall  have  no  share  in  the  brutal  pleasure, 
that  they  may  keep  watch  over  their  brethren  in  their  defenceless 
state.  It  would  be  well  if  a  Church,  when  they  intend  to  sleep, 
would  appoint  their  sentinels,  who  might  alarm  them  if  danger 
approached,  and  wake  them  before  the  bridegroom  came. 

This  dire  disease  is  contagious.  If  the  Christian  could  sleep,  or 
become  stupid  or  worldly,  without  infecting  his  brethren,  it  would 
be  a  smaller  evil.  But  we  are  so  constituted  that  imitation  is  one 
of  the  most  powerful  principles  of  our  nature,  and  is  a  prime-agent 
in  the  formation  of  character,  and  we  naturally  imitate  those  we 
love.  Hence,  when  a  believer  falls  to  sleep,  becomes  worldly,  or 
neglects  the  means  of  grace,  those  who  love  him  stray  with  him. 
And  the  influence  he  has,  while  it  qualifies  him  to  do  the  more 
good,  enables  him  also  to  extend  sterility  and  death  to  the  full 
extent  of  that  influence. 

It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  sinfulness  of  thus  forsaking  God. 
It  is  offering  him  direct  and  legible  insult.  It  reads  to  the  world 
this  lying  lesson :  "  We  have  tried  the  pleasures  of  religion,  and 
find  them  poor.  Its  duties  and  its  cares  result  in  disappointment 
and  misery  ;  and  we  return  to  serve  mammon."  Whether  God 
will  endure  this  insult,  judge  ye. 

It  cannot  be  a  light  thing  to  break  covenant  with  a  pardoning 
Redeemer,  and  trample  under  our  feet  the  seals  and  blood  of  that 
covenant.  To  give  all  his  promises  the  lie,  and  to  barter  away 
our  hopes  of  heaven,  for  the  pleasures  of  a  dream,  is  a  course  of 
conduct  which  God  will  not,  cannot  readily  forgive. 

But  the  crime  will  glare  yet  more  when  we  read  its  ruinous 
consequences.  The  backslider  endangers  his  own  soul.  I  know 
that  God's  everlasting  covenant  secures  the  salvation  of  every  be- 
liever, but  how  shall  it  be  known  who  is  a  believer  1  "  We  shall 
know  the  Lord  if  we  follow  on  to  know  him"  We  shall  be  saved, 
"  if  we  endure  to  the  end"  We  shall,  finally,  be  fitted  for  the  king- 
dom, if  we  do  not  put  our  hand  to  the  plough  and  look  back.  God 
will  work  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure,  but  we  are 


THE    SOUL   RELUCTANTLY    MADE    FAST    TO    EARTH.  129 

to  work  out  our  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  Hence  the  be- 
liever, by  remaining  in  a  state  of  relapse  a  single  day,  darkens  his 
evidence  of  faith,  and  increases  the  dreadful  probability  that  his 
hope  is  false,  and  his  state  alarming.  Thus  he  suspends  his  own 
soul  over  the  bottomless  pit. 

And  we  have  already  said  that  his  disease  is  contagious.  Thus 
he  exposes  his  brethren  to  the  same  hopeless,  comfortless,  and 
fearful  state.  The  .  injury  he  does  himself  may  be  the  smallest 
part  of  the  evil.  He  wounds  himself,  but  he  may,  by  his  example 
and  his  influence,  inflict  a  deeper  and  a  deadlier  wound  in  the 
hearts  of  his  brethren.  Bad  conduct  will  have  more  influence 
than  good.  In  doing  wrong  we  fall  in  with  the  full  tide  of  human 
depravity,  and  press  men  downward,  the  way  they  incline  to  go.  It 
is  far  easier  to  damn  men  than  to  save  them.  With  a  very  small 
exertion  one  may  stain  his  garments  with  blood,  but  to  save  a  soul 
from  death  is  a  great  work. 

And  we  must  not  forget  that  not  upon  his  brethren  merely  does 
the  backslider  exert  a  baneful  influence,  but  upon  all  about  him ! 
Sinners  never  feel  so  justified  in  their  deeds  as  when  they  copy  the 
example  of  a  professed  believer.  Many  a  time  have  they  shamed 
us  with  this  remark,  "  If  mine  is  the  path  to  hell,  your  Christians 
will  perish  with  me."  And  how  dreadful  to  escape  to  heaven,  and 
carry  with  us  the  recollection  that  we  have  sent  others  to  hell ! 
To  look  about  us,  as  we  enter  heaven,  and  see  on  our  skirts  the 
stain  of  the  blood  of  souls !  To  descry  from  the  battlements  of 
the  upper  temple,  our  neighbors,  our  brethren,  our  children  in  the 
pit,  lost  through  our  example  !  Then,  brethren,  we  shall  want  a 
place  to  weep.  And  many  a  time,  it  would  seem,  must  the 
heavenly  song  be  interrupted,  by  the  recollection  of  the  mischief 
we  have  achieved.  . 

And  who  can  say  that  the  redeemed  soul  may  not  itself  be  a 
loser  forever  by  every  instance  of  relapse.  It  stints  his  growth. 
Could  you  make  a  plant  to  grow,  if  you  should  remove  it  from  the 
sun  and  the  rain,  and  place  it  in  a  vault.  Leave  it  there  but  a  single 
week  and  then  return  it  to  its  wonted  bed,  and  who  can  doubt,  but 
that  the  injury  it  has  sustained,  will  be  visible  on  the  approach  of 
winter  1  And  why  will  not  the  believer,  if  he  arrive  at  heaven, 
be  forever  a  smaller  vessel  of  mercy,  because  of  his  backslidings  1 
While  he  cleaves  to  earth  he  ceases  to  grow  in  knowledge  and 
in  grace.  The  work  of  sanctification  is  stationary,  and  the  powers 
of  the  soul  cease  to  expand.  It  is  a  state  of  disease,  and  the  spirit 
pines,  till  the  return  of  health.  There  is  no  relish  for  the  previous 
17 


130       THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH. 

provisions  of  the  gospel,  the  soul's  food.  Hence  it  decays  ;  loses 
its  beauty  and  its  strength  5  is  the  prey  of  famine,  and  thus  stints 
its  future  growth.  One  may  lose  as  much  in  a  period  of  decline, 
as  it  can  gain  in  thrice  that  period.  And  why  will  not  the  evil  be 
visible  forever  1  The  degree  of  blessedness  to  which  we  shall  be 
admitted  when  we  die,  will  bear  proportion  to  the  life  we  live. 
"  Every  man  shall  receive  according  to  his  works."  He  whose 
pound  had  gained  five  pounds  was  made  ruler  over  five  cities  ;  and 
he  whose  pound  had  gained  ten  over  ten.  There  will  be  a  differ- 
ence in  heaven  we  know,  as  one  star  differeth  from  another  star 
in  glory.  And  we  cannot  see  how  obedience  can  be  rewarded, 
unless  our  future  crown  shape  its  glory  by  our  present  improve- 
ments. 

It  is  believed  that  glorified  spirits  will  be  the  subjects  of  endless 
increase  in  joy  and  blessedness.  Hence,  if  we  begin  our  heavenly 
growth  with  different  statures,  why  will  not  the  difference  widen, 
and  widen,  and  widen  for  ever  1  Each  will  be  perfectly  happy  ; 
each  will  find  its  cup  of  enjoyment  full ;  but  one  will  be  a  larger 
vessel  of  mercy  than  another.  Hence,  why  will  not  the  fatal  effects 
of  our  guilty  relapses  extend  and  widen  through  all  the  years  of 
heaven  1  And  what  pity  a  heavenly  mind  should  have  any  thing 
to  impede  its  growth.  How  incalculable  is  the  calamity  that  a 
spirit,  born  with  the  faculty  of  endless  expansion,  should  be  cum- 
bered and  compressed  with  clods  of  clay  !  Yet  such  is  the  dis- 
tressing fact ;  a  fact  at  which  the  angels  might  well  be  grieved, 
and  at  which  God  himself  pours  out  lamentation,  "  Oh  that  thou 
hadst  hearkened  to  my  commandments  !  then  had  tjiy  peace  been 
as  a  river,  and  thy  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea."  De- 
pend upon  it,  brethren,  that  is  a  great  calamity  which  can  awaken 
such  sympathy  and  create  such  regret  in  the  eternal  mind. 

If  any  objector  should  say,  "  If  God  so  tenderly  loves  his  people, 
why  does  he  permit  them  to  do  themselves  such  incurable  mis- 
chief 1"  The  answer  is  obvious  ; — God  does  not  intend  to  make 
them  as  happy  as  he  could  make  them.  He  could  have  made  them 
angels  instead  of  men.  He  could  have  made  them  men,  and  yet 
possessed  of  nobler  capacities,  fitting  them  for  sublimer  enjoy- 
ments. But  every  question  on  these  subjects  is  impudent.  And 
for  the  same  reason  that  God  created  them  as  he  did,  he  permits 
them  all  to  be  less  happy  than  they  might  be,  and  makes  some 
happier  than  others.  To  measure  their  future  happiness  by  their 
present  conduct,  is  to  treat  them  like  rational  creatures,  and  if  he 


THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH.        131 

at  last  raise  them,  to  a  glory  bright  as  their  capacities  can  endure 
it  is  all  they  can  ask,  or  expect,  or  receive. 

Some  have  supposed  that  the  promise,  "  All  things  shall  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,"  implies  that  their  very 
backslidings  will  advance  them  in  holiness.  Perhaps  this  is  a 
mistake.  It  would  be  hardly  safe  to  entrust  such  an  imperfect 
creature  with  such  a  promise.  It  is  safe  to  assure  him  that  all  the 
events  of  divine  providence,  shall  conspire  to  render  him  holy  and 
happy  ;  but  let  him  know  that  his  own  sins  will  have  the  same 
effect,  and  he  is  bribed  to  transgress.  He  is  tempted  to  indulge 
in  sin  because  he  wishes  to  be  holy  :  but  this  would  be  an  absurd 
experiment. 

No  doubt  some  have  advanced  faster  towards  heaven  after  a 
state  of  relapse.  God  in  dealing  with  his  people  may  direct  that 
their  "  backslidings  shall  reprove  them."  But  whether  as  a  gene- 
ral principle  it  is  true,  that  to  forsake  God  is  the  readiest  way  to 
make  us  more  like  him,  demands  a  doubt.  The  grace  of  God  may 
abound  toward  his  recovered  children  ;  he  may  forgive  them  and 
love  them  after  they  have  grievously  offended  him  ;  and  may  ad- 
vance the  work  of  grace  in  their  hearts,  though  they  deserve  to 
perish  5  but  why  ascribe  to  their  sins,  what  is  due  to  the  grace  of 
their  Redeemer  1  Peter  was  a  valuable  apostle,  but  perhaps  none 
the  more  valuable  for  having  denied  his  Lord.  When  he  was 
converted  he  strengthened  his  brethren,  but  would  perhaps  have 
strengthend  them  more  had  he  needed  converting  but  once.  If 
the  backslider  could  hope  in  the  midst  of  his  wanderings,  that  his 
sins  wolild  prove  a  blessing,  that  hope  would  be  illy  calculated  to 
bring  him  back  ;  and  if  there  was  such  a. promise,  he  might  grasp 
at  such  a  hope.  There  is  something  dreadful  in  the  thought  that 
the  believer  should  embrace  an  idol,  and  feel  himself  comforted  in 
his  crime  by  the  prospect  of  thus  increasing  his  sanctification,  and 
brightening  his  crown  of  glory.  If  the  experiment  would  be  dan- 
gerous such  an  application  of  the  promise  is  false  ;  and  the  back- 
slidings of  the  believer  himself  is  not  among  the  all  things  that 
shall  eventuate  in  his  everlasting  good. 

II.  The  prayer — "quicken  thou  me"  In  a  sense,  the  whole  text 
is  a  prayer.  When  David  confesses  "  My  soul  cleaveth  to  the 
dust,"  he  must  be  viewed  as  laying  open  his  case  to  God.  He 
thus  dates  his  prayer,  in  the  very  dust  of  death,  as  you  have  some- 
times seen  a  petition  dated  in  the  recesses  of  a  dungeon.  I  think 
r  see  in  all  this  deep  humility  and  open  ingenuousness.  He  felt 


132  THE    SOUL   feELUCTANTLY    MADE   FAST   TO   EAKTH. 

and  confessed  that  his  habitation  was  in  the  dust,  and  in  that  posi- 
tion not  attempting  concealment,  commences  his  petitions.  As  if 
he  had  said,  "  Here,  Lord,  I  am  embracing  the  dust."  Never  was 
a  heavenly  mind  in  a  more  miserable  condition.  All  ambition  to 
rise  is  gone.  My  situation  is  precisely  the  object  of  my  choice. 
"  I  cleave  to  the  dust." 

Believer,  if  you  fear  that  your  condition  is  but  too  well  described 
in  this  humiliating  confession,  and  you  would  hope  to  be  restored 
again  to  the  favor  of  God,  erect  your  prayer  on  a  very  ingenuous 
confession  of  your  sins.  If  you  venture  upon  any  petition  to  your 
injured  Sovereign,  date  that  petition  from  the  place  of  your  guilty 
retreat.  Without  any  reserve,  mention  in  the  ears  of  your  Re- 
deemer, the  place  of  your  abode,  and  the  meanness  and  guiltiness 
of  your  present  employment.  Suppose  the  prodigal  had  dated  a 
line  to  his  father  at  that  moment  when  he  came  to  himself,  how  do 
you  imagine  it  would  have  read  1  I  apprehend  this  would  have 
been  its  purport  1  "  From  a  far  country,  poor  and  friendless, 
without  home  or  shelter  ;  destitute  of  a  father  or  counsellor ;  in 
the  employ  of  a  menial  servant,  feeding  swine  ;  naked  and  perish- 
ing with  hunger."  How  a  line  thus  dated  would  have  melted  the 
heart  of  his  father.  And,  brethren,  if  any  of  you  have  wandered, 
and  are  willing  to  return  to  God,  you  must  practice  the  same  in- 
genuousness. You  can  date  your  prayer  after  this  manner,  "  From 
a  world  lying  in  ignorance  and  wickedness,  where  I  have  engaged 
to  shine  as  a  light,  while  my  example  increases  the  aggregate  of 
darkness  ;  an  inconsistent  professor  ;  a  senseless,  careless,  stupid 
worldling  ;  buried  up  in  cares  that  have  no  concern  with  thy  king- 
dom ;  too  guilty  to  hope,  too  dull  to  pray,  and  too  depraved  to 
repent."  Such  a  confession,  deeply  felt  and  cheerfully  made,  may 
be  the  prelude  to  any  prayer  you  may  utter.  "  And  before  you 
call  God  will  answer,  and  while  you  are  yet  speaking  he  will  hear." 

We  see  in  the  prayer  of  the  text  a  deep  sense  of  dependence. 
Quicken  thou  me.  David  felt  that  none  but  God  could  revive  him. 
His  case  was  hopeless,  unless  there  came  help  from  Heaven.  He 
was  too  far  gone  to  be  resuscitated  by  any  other  power  than  that 
which  raises  the  dead  to  life.  God  must  be  his  helper,  or  he  never 
rises  again  from  the  horrible  pit.  Probably  he  had  made  some  in- 
effectual efforts  to  restore  himself,  and  had  by  every  such  effort 
sunk  the  deeper  from  the  reach  of  human  aid.  The  exertions  of  a 
sleeping  man  to  wake  himself,  are  of  all  efforts  the  most  worthless. 
Convinced  at  length  that  he  must  die  in  his  dreams  or  be  waked 
by  another,  he  raises  his  eyes  to  heaven,  "  quicken  thou  me." 


THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH.        133 

Christian  brethren,  if  any  one  of  you  find  your  case  a  similar 
one,  your  eye  must  be  fixed  on  the  same  Divine  helper.  And  yet 
you  must  strongly  feel,  that  the  more  need  there  is  that  God 
should  quicken  you,  the  more  guilty  you  are,  and  the  more  unde- 
serving of  his  merciful  interpositions.  This  remark  is  predicated 
upon  the  simple  fact,  that  we  are  agents,  that  we  go  into  voluntary 
exile,  and  remain  there  because  it  is  our  choice.  But  all  this  in- 
creases the  necessity  of  divine  aid.  If  we  are  so  base  that  we  can 
choose  to  depart  from  the  Lord,  he  must  subdue  that  dreadful 
choice  or  our  case  is  hopeless.  Let  us  then  feel  our  need  of  Di- 
vine aid,  and  hang  all  our  hopes  upon  the  timely  interposition  of 
his  quickening  power. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the  backslider  entirely  neglects  to 
pray,  in  which  case  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  he  cuts  himself  ofF 
from  the  last  resource' of  help.  While  the  wanderer  can  summon 
courage  to  pray,  and  can  weep  over  his  wanderings,  there  is  hope 
in  his  case.  However  weak  one  may  be  in  himself,  prayer  takes 
hold  of  everlasting  strength.  It  enlists  angels,  it  enlists  God  him- 
self on  the  side  of  the  believer.  It  wakes  in  his  behalf  the  watch- 
ful eye  of  Heaven.  But  I  proceed  to  notice 

III.  The  PLEA  used  by  the  Psalmist  in  his  guilty  and  gloomy 
circumstances.  "  Quicken  thou  me  according  to  thy  word"  i.  e., 
according  to  thy  gracious  promises.  In  making  this  plea,  the 
Psalmist  discovered  both  his  humility  and  his  faith.  It .  was  evi- 
dence of  his  humility  as  it  was  his  only  plea.  He  asks  no  favor  be- 
cause he  was  the  king  of  Israel.  He  pleads  not  that  he  was  the 
man  after  God's  own  heart.  Nor  even  does  he  mention  his  cove- 
nant relation  to  God,  though  this  would  have  been  a  proper  plea. 
God  of  his  mere  mercy  had  made  promises  to  his  people  $  these 
he  believed,  and  on  these  he  hung  his  hopes,  and  grounded  his 
prayer,  "  Quicken  thou  me  according  to  thy  word." 

Brethren,  there  is  no  plea  in  our  distresses  so  prevalent  with 
God,  as  that  in  which  we  plead  his  promises.  He  loves  to  do, 
and  he  intends  to  do  as  he  has  said.  He  issued  the  promises  with 
a  perfect  knowledge  of  our  sins,  and  our  unworthiness.  He  has 
never  repented  of  one  promise  that  he  ever  made,  nor  wishes  to 
be  excused  from  their  accomplishment.  "  He  is  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day  and  for  ever,"  and  all  the  promises  are  in  Christ, 
yea,  and  in  him,  amen. 

God  loves  to  have  his  people  acquainted  with  the  gracious 
things  he  has  said.  When  we  have  been  wandering  in  the  fields 


134       THE  SOUL  RELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH. 

of  promise,  our  prayers  smell  of  their  perfume.  We  must  have 
often  read  the  promise,  and  must  have  treasured  it  up  in  the  mind 
before  we  can  apply  it  to  our  case,  and  make  it  our  plea  at  the 
throne.  Hence,  when  we  go  to  God,  filling  our  mouths  with  his 
promises,  he  knows  that  we  are  acquainted  with  his  word.  And 
we  may  in  such  circumstances  come  boldly  to  the  throne,  assured 
that  we  shall  "  obtain  mercy  and  find  grace  to  help  in  every  time 
of  need."  It  is  very  remarkable  that  to  almost  every  individual 
case  there  is  at  least  one  promise,  if  not  more. 

Brethren,  if  any  of  you  feel  guilty,  you  may  plead,  "  Thou  art  a 
God  ready  to  pardon,  gracious,  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and 
of  great  kindness."  Or  you  may  pour  out  your  soul  in  this  lan- 
guage, "Who  is  a  God  like  unto  thee,  that  pardoneth iniquity,  and 
passeth  by  the  transgression  of  the  remnant  of  his  heritage."  If 
God  hide  his  face  from  you,  you  may  make  this  plea,  "  In  a  little 
wrath  I  hid  my  face  from  thee  for  a  moment,  but  with  everlasting 
kindness  will  I  have  mercy  on  thee,  saith  the  Lord  thy  Redeemer." 
If  your  trials  multiply,  if  your  estate  consume,  and  your  friends 
die,  if  one  trial  comes  in  upon  another  as  wave  follows  wave  in  a 
stormy  sea,  you  may  plead  this  promise,  "  When  thou  passest 
through  the  waters  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  through  the  floods, 
they  shall  not  overflow  thee,  when  thou  walkest  through  the  fire 
thou  shalt  not  be  burned,  neither  shall  the  flames  kindle  upon 
thee."  I  will  be  with  thee  in  six  troubles,  and  in  seven  I  -will  not 
forsake  thee."  If  no  light  from  heaven  seems  to  shine  upon  your 
path,  you  may  plead  this  promise,  "Whosoever  believeth  in  me 
shall  not  abide  in  darkness."  If  you  fear  that  God  has  utterly 
forsaken  you,  you  are  not  without  a  promise,  "  For  a  small  mo- 
ment have  I  forsaken  thee,  but  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather 
thee."  If  you  apprehend  that  you  have  wearied  his  patience, 
and  that  having  revived  you  so  often,  he  will  never  revive  you 
again,  you  may  remind  him  of  this  precious  text,  "  My  mercy 
will  I  keep  forevermore,"  and  this,  "Mercy  and  truth  shall  go  be- 
fore thy  face."  If  you  even  fear  that  God  may  break  his  promise, 
there  is  a  plea  for  you,  "  The  mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills 
be  removed,  but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee,  neither 
shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be  removed,  saith  the  Lord  that 
hath  mercy  on  thee."  If  it  should  seem  to  you  that  God  even  de- 
lights in  afflicting  you,  as  if  he  meant  to  break  down  your  spirits 
by  the  combined  efforts  of  various  calamities,  you  may  plead  this 
promise,  "  Though  the  Lord  cause  grief,  yet  will  he  have  compas- 
sion, according  to  the  multitude  of  his  mercies."  But,  brethren, 


THE    SOUL    RELUCTANTLY    MADE    FAST    TO    EARTH.  135 

I  have  entered  a  field  which  I  did  not  hope  fully  to  explore.  Al- 
most every  page  of  the  book  of  God,  and  in  some  instances,  every 
line  contains  a  promise.  Could  I  recollect  them  half,  I  could  oc- 
cupy your  time  till  that  sun  had  set,  and  risen  and  set  a  score  of 
times.  I  could  tell  you  of  the  promises  made  to  them  that  fear 
God,  to  them  that  hope  in  him,  to  them  that  love  him,  to  them 
that  obey  him,  to  them  that  trust  him,-  and  to  them  that  honor  him. 
But  if  the  backsliding  Christian  can  only  be  waked  from  the 
slumbers  of  his  relapse  he  can  read  the  long  catalogue  of  promises, 
and  make  them  all  his  own,  and  found  upon  each  some  plea  at  the 
throne.  Oh !  how  sweet  to  come  thus.  Remembering  the  kind 
things  that  God  has  said,  and  resting  the  soul  firmly  on  the  truth 
of  his  word,  the  backslider  should  hasten  to  the  throne.  To  stay 
away  is  to  prolong  Jiis  miseries ;  to  stay  away,  is  death. 


REMARKS. 


1.  The   subject  gives  us  a  humiliating   picture  of  the  human 
heart.     That  men  should  not  wish  for  communion  and  fellowship 
with  God,  who  never  yet  have  tasted  and  seen  that  the  Lord  is 
gracious,  is  not  surprising  j  but  that  the  Christian  should  forsake 
the  Lord,  and  go  after  his  idols,  what  a  proof, of  remaining  cor- 
ruption !     We  have  heard  of  the  savage,  who,  after  being  civilized, 
wished  to  return  again  to  the  wilderness,  and  the  chase.     We  have 
heard  of  the  prodigal,  who,  after  being  restored  to  his  father  and 
his  home,  returned  again  to  his  paths  of  profligacy.     But  what 
have  we  ever  heard  of  that  resembled  the  consummate  folly  of  him 
who,  having  tasted  the  sweets  of  Christian  enjoyments,  could  bar- 
ter away  his  hopes  and  his  pleasures  for  the  enjoyments  of  time 
and  sense ;  could  quit  the  bosom  of  his  Redeemer,  where  he  was 
so  happy,  and  try  to  live  again  on  the  husks  that  the  swine  eat. 
Do  you  think  there  is  one  in  heaven  that  could  be  persuaded  to  lay 
aside  his  harp  and  come  down  to  our  world  again  if  you  would 
give  him  the  whole  of  it  1     And  Christians  have  tasted  of  heaven, 
and  may  drink  deeper  of  its  joys  if  they  please,  and  how  can  they 
ever  barter  them  away. 

2.  The  subject  gives  us  enlarged  views  of  the  mercy  of  God, 
that  he  will  make  beings  so  depraved  the  objects  of  his  affectionate 
regard.     How  strange !     Look  at  some  lapsed  believer,  scarcely 
differing  from  the  world  in  a  thing  that  can  be  named;  sleeping, 
it  may  be,  most  profoundly,  while  the  outcry  of  anxious  souls  is 
heard  all  around  him ;  less  thoughtful  than  men  who  have  never 
tasted  nor  seen  that  the  Lord  was  gracious,  buried  up  in  worldly 


136        THE  SOUL  KELUCTANTLY  MADE  FAST  TO  EARTH. 

care,  and  engrossed,  soul  and  body,  in  the  affairs  of  the  life  that 
now  is !  And,  tell  me,  is  there  any  measure  to  that  mercy,  which 
can  pardon  all  this,  and  raise  such  a  soul  to  heaven.  How  un- 
worthy of  heaven,  and  how  unfit  for  heaven,  and  how  ungrateful 
to  the  God  of  heaven ;  and  still  the  mercy  of  God  can  lead  him  to 
cast  all  his  iniquities  behind  his  back,  and  still  save  the  poor  mi- 
serable backslider.  I  know  that  the  backslider  should  entertain 
no  such  hope,  but  should  believe  himself  in  the  gall  of  bitterness, 
and  under  the  bonds  of  iniquity.  But  if  one  such  case  has  been 
since  there  was  a  church,  and  we  should,  at  last,  see  that  soul  in 
heaven,  how  it  will  exalt  the  compassion  of  a  pardoning  God !  How 
his  long-suffering  patience  will  shine,  as  in  glowing  capitals,  among 
the  perfections  that  will  be  seen  to  cluster  in  his  nature. 

Finally,  my  Christian  brethren,  I  have  taken  up  this  subject  with 
the  apprehension  that  some  of  my  readers  mrty  be  slumbering  at 
this  very  moment.  There  is  some  cause,  and  where  is  that  cause, 
and  what,  that  the  work  of  God  seems  at  a  stand  among  that  class 
that  seemed  the  first  to  wake.*  There  are  many  of  your  acquaint- 
ances, probably,  in  middle  life,  who  know  that  they  are  sinners, 
and  feel  that  sin  has  ruined  them,  and  would  give  a  moiety  of  their 
estate  were  they  safe  from  the  fear  of  hell ;  and  there  they  stand, 
ready  to  go  forward  if  they  must,  or  backward  if  they  may.  Now, 
is  there  not  some  stumbling  block  not  removed  out  of  the  way  1 
The  preacher  would  ask  his  own  heart,  Is  it  there  1  And  he 
would  ask  every  brother,  Is  it  there  ?  Oh,  it  would  be  dreadful  if 
any  of  us  should  stand  in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  and  keep  souls  out 
of  heaven.  It  would  be  dreadful  not  to  do  that  which  would  bring 
them  to  heaven.  To  find  a  soul,  at  last,  on  the  left  hand,  and  know 
that  we  had  blocked  up  his  way  to  life.  We  shall  then  feel  that  we 
had  better  have  died  when  the  Lord  began  to  work ;  our  death  might 
have  awakened  him,  and  while  he  has  stumbled  and  fallen,  at 
our  example,  he  might  have  wept  and  repented  over  our  grave. 

How  can  a  professor  calculate  that  any  thing  shall  ever  wake 
him,  if  he  sleep  now  1  We  tell  the  impenitent,  and  we  have  much 
Scripture  and  many  facts  to  support  the  remark,  that  if  he  wakes 
not  now,  he  must  probably  sleep  the  sleep  of  death  eternal.  And 
-  if  so,  with  how  much  assurance  may  we  say  to  the  slumbering 
professor,  that,  probably,  he  is  not  asleep  but  dead,  and  must  be 
aroused  by  the  same  new-creating  voice,  that  must  bring  to  life 
the  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  or  he  never  bestirs  him  in  the 
ways  of  God.  If  he  can  now  see  all  classes  of  sinners  quitting  the 

*  Alluding  to  a  work  of  God  then  in  progress. 


THE   SOUL   RELUCTANTLY    MADE    FAST   TO   EARTH.  137 

ways  of  death,  and  sitting  down  clothed  and  in  their  right  mind  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus,  what  event  more  electrifying  can  he  hope  to  wit- 
ness, till  he  see  the  dead  rise  and  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven.  He  would  do  well  to  resign  his  hope,  and  place 
himself  among  the  anxious  and  the  inquiring,  and  begin  a  Chris- 
tian life  anew.  The  exhortation  of  the  apostle,  "  Repent,  and  do 
thy  first  works,"  is  applicable  in  all  its  force  to  the  professor  of 
godliness  who  finds  himself  inactive  and  uninterested  in  a  work 
such  as  God  is  doing  in  this  place.  It  is  wicked  for  him  to  cal- 
culate that  he  has  been  born  of  God,  to  presume  that  God  will 
make  him  happy,  or  to  hope  that  he  has  any  inheritance  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  of  Christ.  Amen. 

18 


SERMON   IX. 

A  LIKENESS  TAKEN  IN  THE  FIELD. 

1    CORINTHIANS    X.    31. 

Whether,  therefore,  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God. 

THERE  is  one  feature  in  the  mind  of  God  that  none  have  ever 
been  infidel  enough  to  doubt, — his  unlimited  love  of  happiness. 
He  delights  to  pour  out  blessedness  into  every  heart  that  he  finds 
prepared  to  receive  it.  When,  at  length,  his  kindness  came  in 
contact  with  a  lost  and  ruined  world,  it  contrived  and  developed  a 
plan  of  redemption.  "  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
to  himself."  He  "  was  rich  yet  for  our  sakes  he  became  poor, 
that  we  through  his  poverty  might  be  rich  ;"  and  the  followers  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  be  like  him.  "  If  any  man  have  not 
the  spirit  of  Christ  he  is  none  of  his."  Hence,  the  first  inquiry  of 
every  new-born  soul  will  be  with  him  of  Tarsus,  "  Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  V  The  proper  answer  to  this  question 
will  show,  how  the  Christian  is  to  act  out  the  spirit  of  his  Master  in 
efforts  to  promote  the  conversion  and  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

I.  Let  me  begin  by  saying  that  the  Christian  should  devote  to 
this  work  his  personal  services.  It  is  the  work  we  see  God  doing, 
and  both  duty  and  interest  require  that  we  be  workers  together 
with  God.  And  the  only  measure  there  can  possibly  be  applied 
to  the  service  is  the  power  we  have  to  serve.  "  Whatsoever  thy 
hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."  By  this  rule  God  has 
limited  his  requisitions.  "  If  there  be  first  a  willing  mind  it  is  ac- 
cepted according  to  that  which  a  man  hath,  and  not  according  to 
that  which  he  hath  not."  The  hand  is  used  in  Scripture  to  mean 
our  whole  natural  ability.  It  is  even  used  in  the  same  sense  in 
reference  to  God.  "  The  hand  of  the  Lord  is  not  shortened  that 
it  cannot  save  ;"  whatever  faculty,  then,  of  our  nature  there  is, 
God  has  claimed  it  for  himself. 

If  we  can  think  and  reason  we  are  to  employ  our  understanding 
to  save  men.  We  can  know  their  character  and  their  danger,  and 
expose  their  condition,  and,  by  a  thousand  motives,  urge  their 


A   LIKENESS   TAKEN   IN   THE    FIELD.  139 

speedy  escape  from  the  wrath  to  come,  their  emancipation  from 
the  power  of  sin  and  Satan,  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons 
of  God.  In  this  very  work  the  infinite  mind  of  God  is  occupied, 
nor  can  we  say  that  he  has  any  employment  to  which  he  plies  his 
thoughts  with  more  untiring  industry  than  in  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion. How  does  he  propose  to  sinners  that  they  let  him  reason 
with  them,  and  what  arguments  that  none  but  God  could  invent 
does  he  urge  upon  their  consideration  !  "  Though  your  sins  be 
as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  wool,  though  they  be  red  like  crimson, 
they  shall  be  as  snow."  How  mistaken,  then,  are  the  little  beings 
in  the  shape  of  men,  who  suppose  they  have  minds  too  dignified 
to  be  employed  in  the  redemption  of  souls  !  They  would  not, 
perhaps,  grudge  to  be  occupied  on  the  bench  or  at  the  bar,  but  it 
would  degrade  them,  it  seems,  to  plead  the  cause  of  an  insulted 
God  with  a  rebellious  world.  They  would  spend  life  in  studying 
out  the  laws  of  nature,  or  in  defining  the  properties  of  a  plant,  a 
mineral,  or  an  insect,  but  look  down  contemptuously  upon  the 
business  of  making  men  acquainted  with  God,  and  winning  them 
back  to  loyalty  and  duty  !  The  work  of  counting  money  and  ap- 
praising merchandise  is  not  beneath  them,  but  it  would  be  quite  a 
stoop  to  be  employed  in  studying  the  word  of  God,  and  gathering 
arguments  with  which  to  thwart  the  gainsayings  of  an  infidel  and 
perverse  generation  !  But  if  the  human  mind,  as  infidels  have 
plead,  is  a  scintillation  from  the  infinite  mind,  how  can  it  have  a 
nobler  employment  than  in  winning  souls  to  Him  1 

It  is  the  legitimate  work  of  every  mind  to  hail  the  perishing 
within  its  reach,  and  shed  upon  them  an  enlightening  and  sancti- 
fying influence  !  Not  the  authorized  ministers  of  the  sanctuary 
alone  should  feel  the  pressure  of  this.enterprise,  but  every  intel- 
lect that  took  pattern  from  its  Maker,  and  wears  a  trace  of  his 
likeness.  The  power  of  reasoning  was  given  to  us  to  associate 
us  with  God  in  doing  the  same  work,  as  far  as  may  be,  that  he 
does,  and  the  human  mind  should  feel  itself  meanly  occupied,  if 
even  from  necessity,  held  away  from  its  appropriate  work,  and 
compelled  for  a  time  to  be  devoted  to  the  drudgeries  of  this  life. 
If  one  has  not  the  knowledge,  or  the  talent,  or  the  leisure,  or  au- 
thority to  preach  the  everlasting  gospel,  he  may  not  be  idle. 
There  is  some  field  open  at  his  door  to  do  good.  He  can  learn, 
and  wield  with  the  hundreds  that  cross  his  track,  the  arguments 
that  sustain  the  religion  of  the  gospel,  can  fling  out  his  warnings 
upon  the  ear  of  the  gay,  and  the  worldly,  and  the  dissipated,  and 
the  drunken,  and  the  profane.  He  can  watch,  and  wake  the  slum- 


140  A    LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN   THE    FIELD. 

bering  believer,  and  cheer  and  sustain  the  ministry,  and  stanch 
the  heart  of  the  disconsolate,  and  plan  the  measures  of  benevo- 
lence, and  put  in  successful  motion  a  thousand  other  minds,  mighti- 
er perhaps  than  his  own,  that  shall  push  on  the  enterprise  of  re- 
demption, after  his  own  has  escaped  to  heaven,  and  his  bones  have 
been  mouldered  a  thousand  years.  He  may  be  a  small  man  in  his 
own  esteem,  and  insignificant,  too,  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  still  may 
give  healthful  impulse,  and  a  right  direction,  to  a  moving  world. 
"  Worm  Jacob  may  take  in  his  hand  a  new,  sharp,  threshing  in- 
strument, having  teeth,  by  which  he  shall  thresh  the  mountains 
and  beat  them  small,  and  make  the  hills  as  chaff,  and  the  wind 
shall  carry  them  away,  and  the  whirlwind  shall  scatter  them." 
Let  the  Christian  be  only  willing  to  be  in  his  place,  and  there 
will  be  presented  soon  some  nook  for  him  to  occupy,  where  he 
can  strengthen  and  edify  the  spiritual  temple. 

And  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  there  is  no  amount  of  other 
duty,  in  wliich  we  operate  by  proxy,  that  can  possibly  exonerate 
us  from  performng  all  that  may  be  of  this  personal  service  for  the 
Lord  Jesus.  No  matter  what  the  aggregate  of  duty  done  through 
other  agencies,  we  must  do  this  service  too.  If  we  could  educate 
a  thousand  ministers,,  and  buy  the  services  of  ten  thousand  othersr 
and  freight  the  Word  of  Life  to  a  score  of  nations,  and  thus,  by 
pr  oxy,  evangelize  half  a  world,  if  there  was  still  a  soul  within  our 
reach  over  whom  we  could,  by  the  use  of  our  own  minds,  exert  a 
sanctifying  control,  we  must  answer  to  God  for  the  proper  use  of 
that  opportunity.  Still  it  would  remain  incumbent,  "  whatsoever 
thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."  Still  must  we  be 
instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in  warning,  and  rebuking,  and 
admonishing  the  wayward  and  the  perishing.  The  maxim  would 
then  apply,  "  These  ought  ye  to  have  done,  but  not  to  have  left 
the.  other  undone."  There  is  no  proviso  in  the  law  of  God  freeing 
me  from  being  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  in  the  sense  now  advocat- 
ed, if  I  could  send  out  among  the  lost  an  army  of  evangelists 
numerous  enough  to  begirt  the  world. 

Nor  can  any  Moses  plead  that  he  is  slow  of  speech,  and  throw 
the  whole  responsibility  on  Aaron.  There  is  no  mind  so  mean  but 
there  is  some  mind  it  can  reach  and  instruct,  some  conscience  or 
heart  it  can  approach  and  rectify,  and,  by  the  Spirit's  co-operation, 
mould  into  holy  and  heavenly  form.  Let  men  only  become  will- 
ing to  be  the  Lord's  servants,  and  he  will  find  them  a  field  of  labor. 
And  how  can  the  good  man  be  willing  that  there  should  be  any 
heart  about  him  unsanctified,  or  mind  unenlightened  1  Can  he  rest 


A    LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN    THE    FIELD.  141 

in  indolence  when,  if  he  would  act,  he  could  enlarge  his  Lord's 
empire  1  Can  he  ^ee  his  Master  dishonored,  and  his  law  trampled 
upon,  when  his  own  exertions  would  produce  obedience  1  And 
how  then  can  he  have  hope  that  he  loves  his  Master.  Piety  is  a 
living]  principle,  a  power  that  can  generate  action  and  give  im- 
pulse. The  healthful  state  of  the  soul  depends,  I  know,  on  the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  yet,  as  God  will  give  his  Spirit  to  them 
who  ask  him,  his  people  can  always  put  forth  an  energy  that  shall 
act  on  others.  Hence,  if  the  man  of  God  might,  with  a  good  con- 
science withhold  his  personal  services,  he  would  not,  but  will  place 
himself  between  the  living  and  the  dead,  and  stay  the  plague  that 
is  paralyzing  the  energies  of  a  world. 

When  the  Church  shall  feel  on  this  point  with  sufficient  strength 
every  Christian  will  be  virtually  a  preacher,  and  God  will  ordain 
strength  out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings.  Every  profes- 
sion of  godliness  will  recruit  the  soldiership  of  Christ,  the  stam- 
mering tongue  will  speak  plainly,  and  many  will  run  to  and  fro,  and 
knowledge  will  be  increased.  Men  who  have  purposed  to  reject 
Jesus  Christ  will  feel  unhappy  till  they  give  up  the  controversy  j 
and,  at  length,  no  one  shall  have  need  to  say  to  his  brother,  Know 
the  Lord,  for  all  shall  know  him,  from  the  least  even  unto  the 
greatest. 

It  may  be  that  God  calls  us  to  serve  him  with  the  pen.  The  man 
who  has  talents  at  this  service  may  not  withhold.  The  pen  is  that 
engine  by  which  one  mind  may  bear  with  energy  upon  other 
minds,  and,  associated  with  the  press,  is  that  lever  that  can  pry 
up  a  world.  And  this  weapon,  which  shook  the  world  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  will  shake  it  yet  more  mightily  as  the  millennial 
morning  shall  be  seen  projecting  up  the  sky. 

The  world  understand  the  worth  and  the  might  .of  the  pen,  and 
the  Church  might  have  learned,  if  she  had  not  been  slow  to  learn. 
The  lowest  scribbler  can  send  his  lying  puffs  abroad  in  behalf  of 
the  theatre,  and  the  politician,  who  cannot  spell  his  mother  tongue, 
will  write  and  print  his  electioneering  paragraph,  then  why  should 
not  the  Christian  who  can  wield  an  able  pen  be  occupied  in  this 
service  while  the  world  is  perishing.  And  if  one  cannot  use  this 
instrument  of  good  himself,  he  can  procure  it  used.  And  we  may, 
some  of  us,  yet  live  to  see  half  a  million  of  writers  employing  ten 
thousand  presses  in  defending  the  truth,  and  sustaining  the  honor 
of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

And  if  our  minds  seem  not  to  us  our  noblest  part,  then  may  we 
find  something  to  do  for  God  with  our  hands.  We  can  toil  instead 


142  A    LIKENCSS    TAKEN    IN    THE   FIEL1». 

of  those  who  have  better  minds,  and  let  them  serve,  in  our  behalf, 
the  interest  we  love.  Here  something  has  been'done,  but  not  the 
thousandth  part  of  what  should  be.  Let  the  hours  that  are  thrown 
away  by  the  great  mass  of  the  Christian  community  be  employed 
in  laboring  for  God,  and  the  avails  would  soon  renovate  the  world. 
And  the  labors  done  with  such  design  would  produce  habits  that 
would  tell  on  the  health,  and  plenty,  and  cheerfulness,  and  sancti- 
fication  of  the  Church.  By  such  a  practice,  when  universal,  how 
would  crime  disappear,  and  credit  rise,  and  health  increase,  and 
life  be  prolonged,  and  the  laboring  community  throughout  Christ- 
endom stand,  at  length,  on  an  elevation  that  would  cover  the  whole 
territory  with  a  halo  of  glory.  Thus  the  personal  services  of 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  Church  of  God  may  be  put  in 
requisition  to  redeem  back  an  alienated  world  to  its  rightful  Lord 
and  Master.  God  of  mercy  grant  that  the  question  may  soon  cease 
to  be  asked,  either  in  or  about  the  vineyard,  "  Why  stand  ye  here 
all  the  day  idle  1 " 

II.  I  assert,  that  the  Christian  must  use  his  influence  in  honoring 
his  Master.  I  refer  now  not  solely  to  that  direct  effort  that  one 
man  makes  to  control  another,  but  to  that  ascendency  of  moral 
principle  which  one  acquires,  by  which  he  leads  other  minds  on 
in  his  own  track.  It  consists  in  a  good  name,  and  implies  a  good 
example,  and  may  have  relation  to  family  and  blood,  and  place  and 
opportunity.  Every  man  has  more  or  less  influence,  can  exert 
control  over  some  minds,  and  sway  all  who  will  suffer  themselves 
to  drop  into  his  wake. 

Wicked  men  have  influence,  and  will  seldom  fail  to  use  it  to 
further  the  interests  they  love,  and  destroy  the  souls  they  are  obli- 
gated to  save.  How  baneful  has  been  its  use  in  all  the  pages  of 
human  history.  The  influence  of  Jeroboam  ruined  ten  of  the  tribes 
of  Israel ;  and  the  house  of  Ahab,  his  descendant,  bred  mischief 
in  his  kingdom  that  never  could  be  cured  till  the  kingdom  was 
extirpated ;  and  the  influence  of  Jezebel  laid  a  train  of  mischief 
and  guilt  that  even  her  own  blood  could  riot  wash  away.  And  all 
who  are  acquainted  with  history  know  how  blighting  has  been  the 
influence  of  Voltaire,  spreading  over  a  whole  continent,  and  reach- 
ing down  now  through  a  century  ;  destined,  we  fear,  to  mark  its 
track  with  the  blood  of  souls  through  the  space  of  a  thousand 
years.  And  the  miserable  Paine,  who  had  all  his  baseness  of  prin- 
ciple, though  wanting  his  greatness  of  mind,  did  mischief  in  his 
little  day,  and  put  moral  machinery  in  motion  that  has  been  widen- 


A    LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN  .THE    FIELD.  143 

ing  the  sphere  of  devastation,  till  thousands  of  souls  will  acknow- 
ledge him  the  father  of. their  damnation. 

Now  the  people  of  God  can  put  forth  the  same  kind  of  influence 
in  a  better  cause.  They  can  mould  the  manners  of  men,  and  shape 
their  principles  for  heaven,  and  turn  the  eye  of  the  multitude  to 
truth,  and  duty,  and  God,  by  the  use  of  their  influence,  the  agent 
by  which  others  have  spread  through  creation  darkness  and  misery. 
Let  them  throw  their  whole  hearts  into  this  better  interest,  and  be 
as  prompt  and  indefatigable  for  God  as  were  these  sons  of  Belial 
for  their  master  j  and  we  see  not  why  men  may  not  reach  the  same 
gigantic  influence  in  the  ways  of  God,  and  make  their  life  as  con- 
spicuous in  the  Church  as  were  these  foes  of  God  in  the  ranks  of 
death. 

There  can  surely  be  acquired  more  greatness  of  soul,  and  more 
fixedness  of  principle,  and  more  steadfastness  of  purpose  in  the 
cause  of  God  than  in  the  service  of  the  adversary.  And  there  can 
be  used  as  much  industry,  and  courage,  and  perseverance,  in  mak- 
ing the  world  holy,  as  in  degrading  it.  We  can  place  against  the 
polluted  names  we  have  rehearsed  a  Baxter,  a  Brainard,  a  Martyn, 
a  Hale,  a  Luther,  a  Wesley,  and  a  Whitefield,  and  a  thousand  other 
names ;  and  what  these  holy  men  were  others  can  be,  and  we 
might  have  a  whole  generation  on  the  stage  at  once.  As  the  starry 
night  has  its  galaxy,  so  the  moral  world  will  have,  when  the  Lord's 
people  shall  try  to  shine  in  all  the  glory  of  their  Master.  They 
can  easily  make  their  influence  be  felt  as  it  never  has  been,  and  as 
soon  as  they  shall  try,  their  exertions  will  tell  on  the  character  of 
the  Church  and  the  world. 

On  the  Church  an  influence  may  be  used  with  advantage,  as 
there  cannot  be  supposed  any  prejudice  to  counteract  it.  We  can 
lead  on  the  people  of  God  to  higher  spiritual  attainments,  to  a 
more  devoted  benevolence,  to  greater  industry,  to  more  prayer, 
and  bible  reading,  to  a  closer  covenant  keeping,  and  to  equipment 
and  discipline  in  the  whole  round  of  heavenly  soldiership.  The 
men  of  the  world  exert  constantly  a  deadening  and  adulterating 
influence  upon  the  Church,  which  should  be  industriously  counter- 
acted by  the  servants  of  Jesus  Christ.  What  does  the  covenant 
mean,  if  Christians  are  not  to  be  putting  forth  an  influence  towarcj, 
each  other  that  shall  tend  to  their  mutual  sanctification  1  And  how 
can  the  Church,  as  a  community,  throw  out  a  sanctifying  influence 
upon  the  wide  world  till  this  is  done  1 

It  is  one  of  the  first  duties  of  the  ministry,  you  know,  to  edify 
the  body  of  Christ,  and  why  should  not  each  believer  exert  upon 


144  A   LIKENESS   TAKEN    IN    THE    FIELD. 

her,  as  far  as  possible,  the  same  control  1  When  we  shall  make 
the  people  of  God  feel  that  we  love  them,  and  our  example  shall 
testify  that  we  are  followers  of  Christ  as  dear  children,  we  shall 
take  a  hold  of  their  hearts,  and  exert  over  them  an  influence  that 
shall  be  moulding  them  into  holy  and  useful  habits.  We  can 
help  form  their  creed,  and  rouse  their  courage,  and  correct  their 
wanderings,  and  inspirit  them  to  increased  energy,  and  skill,  and 
impetus,  till  the  Church  shall  shine  forth  like  the  morning.  And 
while  we  are  thus  blessing  the  Church  we  shall  be  able  to  influ- 
ence the  world  also.  We  sometimes  mistake  the  amount  of  our 
influence  with  worldly  men,  and  think  it  small,  when  more  exer- 
tion would  show  it  to  be  mighty.  Let  us  bear  with  a  steady  and 
uniform  pressure  against  their  vices,  and  urge  upon  them  the 
thoughts  of  death  and  the  judgment,  and  the  perdition  that  en- 
sues, and  we  shall  find  afterward  that  we  have  controlled  them.  We 
may  rouse  their  impatience,  however,  at  the  moment  when  they  are 
coming  under  the  power  of  our  influence.  I  know  the  world  would 
lessen,  and  have  always  hated  the  Church's  influence,  while  yet 
they  feel  it  and  writhe  under  it,  and  have  no  shield  to  ward  off  its 
point  and  power.  But  when  they  have  uttered  all  their  calumnies, 
and  flounced  and  bled  for  a  time,  still  if  the  Church  bear  down 
against  their  deeds  of  darkness  they  sin  with  heaviness.  Virtually 
they  ask  leave  of  the  Church,  and  wait  her  consent  at  every  step 
they  take  in  sin.  I  know  they  would  not  own  this  subjection  to  a 
foreign  influence,  but  this  alters  nothing.  Every  man  must  see 
that  no  vice  can  be  current  against  the  Church's  loud,  and  steady, 
and  prayerful  testimony.  They  cannot  even  desert  her  sanctuary 
till  professors  do,  nor  pollute  her  ordinances,  nor  trample  on 
her  Sabbath,  nor  profane  her  Redeemer.  When  the  Church 
rose  upon  the  theatre,  and  joined  with  decency  to  scowl  it 
out  of  use,  it  became  from  that  moment  a  sinking  concern, 
and  the  stock  can  never  rise  again  in  the  market  till  she  will 
send  up  to  its  obscenities,  her  proud,  and  gay  and  prayerless  rep- 
resentation. Oh,  can  she  ever  do  this  1  Tell  it  not  in  Gath ! 
Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon !  And  the  game  of  whist, 
and  the  dance,  and  every  other  licentious  and  ensnaring  pastime, 
will  go  down  when  professors  disuse  them.  The  Sabbath  is  com- 
ing into  more  general  repute  through  the  Church's  use  of  her  in- 
fluence and  example  in  sustaining  it.  The  cause  of  temperance 
moved  on  briskly  till  it  was  discovered  that  the  Church  held  in  her 
fellowship  those  who  would  drink  the  cup  of  devils,  but  has  stayed 
in  its  march  till  she  can  have  time  to  entomb  her  inebriates.  Fast 


A    LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN    THE    FIELD.  14*5 

as  any  vice  shall  cease  to  have  its  abettors  in  the  house  of  God  it 
must  go  down.  And  when  the  Church  shall  use  her  whole  influ- 
ence she  will  be  able  to  control  the  manners  of  the  world,  and  make 
and  rectify  the  public  conscience. 

And  when  all  this  is  done<  the  people  of  God  can  do  more,  can 
render  men  awakened,  and  convicted,  and  regenerate.  Not  that  they 
can  do  all  this,  or  any  part  of  it,  without  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  God  has  appointed  the  means  that  he  will  bless,  the 
presentation  of  .his  truth  by  the  human  voice,  in  that  kindliness 
of  form  which  is  applicable  to  the  human  affections.  In  this 
work  his  people  can  be  employed.  They  know  the  truth  and  can 
watch  for  the  kind  moment  of  presenting  it,  and  pray  the  God  of 
heaven  to  bless  it  and  give  it  power.  Thus  have  they  the  means 
of  subjecting  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  all  the  men  about  them,  and 
are  blameworthy  if  these  souls  quit  the  world  un'sanctified.  We 
shall  know  at  the  last,  and  it  would  be  well  if  we  would  know  it 
now,  how  high  a  bearing  our  present  deportment  has  upon  the 
character  and  destiny  of  the  ungodly.  We  shall  see  then,  that  the 
quiet  of  conscience,  and  the  self-complacency,  and  the  calmness, 
and  content,  that  make  the  face  of  the  unregenerate  world  so  tran- 
quil, is  criminally  associated  with  the  Church's  slumbers.  Soon 
as  she  awakes  the  world  is  anxious,  and  when  the  people  of  God 
shall  sleep  no  more,  but  make  their  whole  influence  be  felt,  then 
may  we  safely  predict  that  the  world's  slumbers  are  ended. 

The  revivals  which  marked  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  as 
the  year  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Lord,  and  will  probably  distin- 
guish it  till  the  judgment  as  of  all  the  years  that  preceded  it,  the 
Church's  holiest,  happiest  year,  are  but  the  glorious  result  of  the 
Church  awake  to  God's  interest,  and  God  graciously  attentive  to 
hers.  The  Church  has  tried  a  little  her  influence,  not  to  the  ex- 
tent she  will  hereafter,  and  she  has  seen  the  heavenly  building  rise 
at  every  push  she  gave,  and  every  shout  she  uttered.  Now  let 
the  Church,  for  once,  throw  off  wholly  her  long-protracted  paraly- 
sis and  she  may  urge  on  her  conquests  till  earth's  entire  territory 
shall  be  redeemed  to  the  Lord  Jesus.  ^C 

But  there  will  be  need  that  every  child  of  God  enlist  under  the 
banner  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  As  they  must  all  be  sanctified  they 
will  all  need  the  discipline  of  laboring  for  God  ;  and  can,  then,  all 
aid  in  the  song  that  sings  the  conquest  ended,  and  the  victory 
won  1  And  those  whom  God  loves  so  little  that  he  will  permit 
them  in  this  age  of  action  to  plod  on  in  the  rearmost  rank  of  the 

19 


146  A   LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN    THE    FIELD. 

sacramental  host,  may  well  doubt  whether  they   shall  have  any 
part  in  the  'shout  of  victory. 

Sectarianism  will  die  out  as  the  millennial  year  comes  in. 
There  will  be  union  in  this  enterprise,  "Ephraim  shall  not  envy 
Judah,  and  Judah  shall  not  vex  Ephraim."  The  watchmen  shall 
see  eye  to  eye ;  the  grand  benevolent  institutions  of  the  opening 
and  glorious  age  shall  be  ably  sustained,  and  men  will  be  furnished, 
and  money,  and  prayer,  and  faith,  by  means  of  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  will  honor  his  people  and  reinstate  himself  in  his  own  re  pur- 
chased empire.  The  bulwarks  erected  against  the  rising  kingdom 
will  be  sapped,  and  the  foe  be  disheartened,  and  the  barley-cake 
will  demolish  the  tents  of  Midian.  The  Church  will  have  learned 
how  to  make  her  influence  felt  in  the  moral  pulsation  of  the  world, 
and  the  blessed  results  will  continue  down  to  the  period  of  its  dis- 
solution. How  happy  are  the  men  that  are  to  come  after  us,  and 
how  blessed  the  generation  that  shall  watch  the  rising  sun  and 
bask  in  the  noon  rays  of  the  moral  world. 

In  the  mean  time  the  people  of  God  must  consecrate  to  the  con- 
version of  the  world  their  money.     Hardly  need  this  have  been 
said.     When  men  shall  have  devoted  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  their 
personal  services  and  their  influence,  they  will  not  withhold  their 
wealth.     This  gives  them  the  means  of  reaching  the  hearts  and 
consciences  to  which  they  cannot  extend  a  personal  control.    We 
can  here  operate  by  proxy,  and  put  in  motion  a  moral  machinery, 
that  may  multiply  our  usefulness  a  thousand  fold.     There  is  wealth 
enough  in  the  Church,  if  the  world  should  withhold  its  first  and 
last  penny,  to  buy  back  to  its  Master-  the  government  of  the  king- 
dom.    Nor  can  men  or  angels  conceive  of  any  other  reason,  why 
it  is  there,  but  that  the  Lord  hath  need  of  it.     It  rusts  and  cankers 
•  the  piety  that  covets  it,  and  the  piety  that  keeps  it.     It  is  in  every 
such  case  a  millstone  about  the  believer's  neck,  and  will  hold  him 
from  rising  heavenward  more  than  stripes,  and  chains,  and  dun- 
geons.    All  experience  agrees,  that  absolute  beggary  befits  better 
a  heavenly  mind  than  riches.     The  man  of  wealth  then  has  but 
one  question  to  ask :  how  shall  I  employ  my  mammon  1     And 
here  the  field  is  wide.     Let  him  furnish  the   world  a  ministry 
There  must  go  with  the  Bible  the  living  preacher.     This  is  God's 
appointed  means.     By  the  foolishness   of  preaching  he  will  save 
them  that  believe.     The  harvest  may  be  so  wide,  that  one  cannot 
personally  explore  its  limits,  and  yet  by  his  money  he  may  fill  the 
field  with  reapers.     Here,  as  in  some  of  the  bloody  conflicts,  when 
life  went  out  in  a  torrent,  a  single  man  can  enlist  and  equip  an 


-A    LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN    THE    FIELD.  147 

army,  and  carry  on  a  w*r  long  and  desperate,  till  he  shall  shake 
the  pillars  of  the  opposing  empire.  This  is  a  crisis  when  one 
shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight.  The 
Church  has  the  means,  and  the  world  must  not  need  a  ministry, 
and  the  gospel  presents  the  motives  that  shall  draw  these  means 
forth.  If  they  remain  in  the  Church,  they  but  nurse  idolatry,  and 
thus  corrupt  her  integrity,  and  mar  her  beauty.  But  riches  asso- 
ciated with  benevolence,  are  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of 
silver.  And  they  are  occupied,  and  will  be  yet  more  extensively 
in  replenishing  the  ministry.  The  millennial  year,  if  her  star  is 
risen  and  her  day  has  dawned,  cannot  roll  up  her  sun  to  his  zenith, 
till  our  rich  men  have  discovered  this  use  for  their  money.  And 
when  their  wealth  has  made  a  ministry,  it  must  sustain  it.  This 
is  a  sordid  world.  Men  will  feed  their  destroyers  rather  than 
their  benefactors.  Any  profession  can  live  better  than  the  minis- 
try of  the  reconciliation.  Wfe  must  furnish  and  feed  a  hundred 
thousand  missionaries.  And  it  is  a  blessing,  and  not  a  curse,  that 
the  church  has  this  service  to  do,  has  this  outlet  for  her  wealth. 
It  had  begun  to  stagnate  and  breed  pestilence,  like  the  river  of 
Jordan,  till  a  dead  sea  was  furnished  to  drink  up  her  waters.  It  is 
a  blessing  to  the  older  Churches  that  they  have  all  this  to  do,  it  is 
their  honor  and  their  salvation,  and  the  wealthy  Christians  have 
only  to  learn  how,  and  they  will  do  it,  or  Christians  have  not  the 
temper  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  we  have  not  yet  told  the  half  they  have  to  do.  They  must 
fill  the  world  with  Bibles,  reading  in  every  language  under  heaven 
the  lessons  of  mercy  to  the  tribes  that  sit  in  darkness,  and  the 
same  wealth  must  sustain  the  tract  cause,  and  rain  down  the  leaves 
of  the  tree  of  life  upon  the  sickly  and  perishing  nations.  They 
must  furnish  to  the  ignorant  and  the  poor  Sabbath-schools,  and 
Bible-classes,  and  all  the  other  means  of  making  mind  that  the  re- 
novation of  a  world  require.  There  is  faith  and  not  infidelity  in 
asserting  that  the  millennium  cannot  come  till  the  Church  learns 
better  how  to  use  her  money,  and  it  will  not  tarry  when  this  lesson 
is  well  learned.  Ride  on,  blessed  Lord  Jesus,  and  assess  thy 
Church  to  the  full  amount  of  all  the  promises,  and  buy  thee  a 
kingdom  with  it,  and  reign  thou  over  us  and  our  house  for  ever. 

And  then,  beyond  all  this,  the  people  of  God  must  give  him  their 
children,  and  a  title  to  their  whole  house.  What  right  have  we 
in  our  offspring,  vying  with  the  right  that  the  Savior  has  1  He 
did  not  give  us  children,  that  we  might  worship  and  serve  them 
instead  of  him.  He  did  not  commit  their  souls  to  us,  that  we 


14*8  A   LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN    THE    FIELD. 

might  with  them  officer  the  hosts  of  his%nemies  and  furnish  the 
Church  her  bitterest  foes  from  the  house  of  her  friends.  He  did 
not  send  us  children  that  we  might  absorb  ourselves  and  all  that 
we  have  in  their  rearing,  and  thus  place  their  interest  at  war  with 
the  interests  of  his  kingdom.  He  did  not  make  them  children  of 
prayer  that  they  should  mingle  with  the  world,  and  profane  the 
privileges  of  his  family  to  the  furthering  of  their  own  undoing. 
He  had  designs  of  mercy,  and  we  should  know  it,  and  set  our 
hearts  to  gather  them  into  his  kingdom  early,  and  have  them  ser- 
vants of  his  Son  soon  as  they  become  intelligent.  And  then  we 
can  make  them  know  that  we  have  in  our  hearts  and  on  our  knees 
devoted  them  to  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  are  rearing  them  for  his 
honor,  that  we  have  nothing  that  we  can  do  with  them,  and  they 
nothing  that  they  can  do  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  if  they  will  not 
devote  their  hearts  to  him,  and  their  all  to  him.  We  must  teach 
them  to  toil  for  him,  and  calculate  for  him,  and  live  and  die  'for 
him.  Till  this  is  done,  as  we  have  not  yet  been  accustomed  to  see 
it  in  Christian  families,  the  Lord  Jesus  will  delay  his  coming.  To 
see  the  father  of  a  family  praying  for  the  millenium,  and  the  mother 
laboring  to  evangelize  the  world,  each  eagerly  grasping  at  intelli- 
gence of  new  victories  achieved  by  the  Captain  of  their  |alvation, 
here  there  is  promise,  but  if  in  their  house  there  is  no  prospect  of 
a  holy  succession  that  can  push  on  the  enterprises  of  benevolence 
when  the  parents  are  glorified,  how  dark  it  looks.  And  these 
children,  too,  are  fed  and  clad  with  the  Church's  money,  and  des- 
tined, perhaps,  to  inherit  a  large  estate  and  alienate  it  for  ever  from 
God.  To  die  the  parent  of  such  a  family,  is  more  to  be  deplored 
than  to  die  childless.  If  we  would  faithfully  devote  our  all  to  the 
Lord,  it  would  not  so  happen  with  us ;  he  would  sanctify  our  seed 
and  build  us  up  a  sure  house  for  ever. 

And  not  the  children  merely,  but  the  whole  house  should  be  the 
Lord's.  There  should  be  the  fear  of  God  in  every  department  of 
domestic  life.  That  religion  that  is  confined  to  the  parlor,  and 
exhausts  its  last  impulse  while  yet  it  has  exerted  no  salutary  con- 
trol over  the  domestics  of  the  family,  which  seems  regardless  of 
the  soul  that  toils  on  the  farm,  or  drudges  in  the  services  of  the 
house,  or  waits  at  the  door,  a  religion  that  leaves  three-fourths  of 
a  family  heathen,  will  never  evangelize  the  world.  If  we  do  not 
pity  the  souls  at  our  door,  our  philanthropy  was  never  born  in 
heaven,  and  will  do  nothing  to  save  the  heathen  who  are  sitting 
in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death.  Oh,  there  is  something  fatally 
incongruous  in  such  domestic  arrangements,  and  it  must  be  cured 


A  LIKENESS    TAKEN    IN    THE   FIELD.  149 

in  the  Church,  or  our  example  will  make  heathen  at  home  faster 
than  our  charities  and  prayers  will  save  them  abroad. 

Here  every  householder  in  Christendom  has  a  noble  field  for 
labor.  Let  him  carry  the  Bible  into  the  apartment  of  his  domes- 
tics, if  any  he  has  in  his  employ,  and  pray  there,  and  read  them 
the  tidings  of  Zion's  increase  till  every  spirit  that  serves  him, 
shall  wish  to  serve  his  Lord.  Then  let  him  look  up  the  heathen 
around  him  till  there  is  not  one  within  the  circle  of  his  influence, 
and  then  let  him  become  a  missionary,  and  spread  the  gospel 
through  the  wide  world. 


SERMON    X. 
THE  PERFECTED  GOOD  MAN. 

2    TIM.    MI.    17. 

That  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works. 

THE  context  reads,  "All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of 
God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  and 
for  instruction  in  righteousness  ;  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  per- 
fect, thoroughly  furnished  unto  every  good  work."  Thus  God 
has  given  the  Christian  minister  all  the  instruction  he  needs  to 
qualify  him  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  has  given  to  every 
Christian  the  instruction  he  needs  to  qualify  him  to  be  a  finished 
man  of  God.  1  shall  consider  the  text  in  this  widest  applica- 
tion. If  the  perfection  spoken  of  in  the  text  be  considered  a 
perfect  freedom  from  sin,  then  we  are  taught  that  the  truths  of 
God's  word  are  adapted  to  promote  this  design,  the  question 
still  remaining  unsettled,  as  it  regards  this  text,  whether  the  Chris- 
tian will  in  any  one  case,  attain  to  this  perfection  till  death.  Other 
scriptures  settle  the  point,  that  there  is  no  man  that  liveth,  and 
doeth  good,  and  sinneth  not ;  and  that  if  any  man  saith  that  he 
hath  no  sin,  he  is  a  liar.  But  there  is  a  perfection  that  belongs  to 
believers  in  the  present  life,  and  to  which  it  seems  the  apostle  has 
reference  in  the  text.  Every  Christian  must  have  on  all  the  attri- 
butes of  the  child  of  God.  He  cannot  be  wholly  wanting  as  to 
any  one  of  the  Christian  graces.  As  the  child  born  yesterday  is 
pronounced  a  perfect  child,  because  he  possesses  every  feature  of 
the  man,  although  feeble,  and  exhibiting,  perhaps,  a  very  faint  de- 
velopment of  some  of  the  manly  features;  so  every  child  of  God 
must  have  every  feature  of  piety.  He  may  not  lack  wholly  either 
faith,  or  hope,  or  love,  or  humility,  or  any  other  of  the  Christian 
graces.  One  Christian  grace  may  outgrow  another,  as  in  the  hu- 
man body  we  sometimes  see  a  member  that  has  taken  uncommon 
•  magnitude,  while  yet  every  other  member  may  have  place,  though 
not  exact  proportion.  For  instance,  we  have  seen  much  zeal 
where  there  was  but  little  knowledge,  too  little  to  guide  the  man 


THE   PERFECTED   GOOD    MAN.  151 

the  most  safely  through  this  wilderness.  And  we  have  seen,  on 
the  other  hand,  abundant  doctrinal  knowledge,  where  there  seem- 
ed not  sufficient  zeal  to  kindle  up  devotion.  And  we  have  seen 
professed  believers  who  wanted  wholly  some  grace  of  the  Spirit, 
making  it  manifest  that  God  had  not  stamped  his  image  on  their 
heart.  That  the  Christian  must  be  perfect,  insomuch,  that  he 
must  more  or  less  exhibit  every  grace  of  the  gospel,  I  argue, 

I.  From  the  fact  that  every  grace  is  the  result  of  the  operation  of 
the  same  Divine  Spirit,  whose  work  will  ever  be  perfect.  We  are 
assured  that  "  the  works  of  the  Spirit  are  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance." 
All  this  catalogue  of  graces,  then,  will  be  found  where  the  Spirit 
of  God  is.  He  moulds  every  feature  of  the  Christian  man,  and 
will  not  leave  his  work  unfinished.  He  generates  the  temper  that 
displays  itself  in  every  grace.  The  renovated  heart  in  view  of 
God,  loves,  adores,  and  rejoices  ;  in  view  of  sin,  is  sorrowful  and 
penitent ;  in  view  of  Christ,  believes ;  under  injuries,  is  meek ; 
under  afflictions,  patient ;  at  the  sight  of  miseries,  compassionate  ; 
and  in  view  of  its  own  polluted  self,  is  humbled.  Thus,  the  Holy 
Ghost  generates,  at  the  first,  in  the  heart  of  the  believer,  every 
grace  that  will  be  there  when  he  is  ripened  for  glory.  One  and 
another  of  these  graces  may  grow  as  circumstances  may  demand 
their  increase,  and  finally,  attain  different  degrees  of  strength  and 
vigor.  They  are  sister  affections,  which  the  same  Spirit  will  not 
fail  to  generate  in  every  heart  he  renews.  Hence  their  harmony 
and  their  oneness  is  sure. 

There  may  be  in  men,  by  nature,  the  semblance  of  some  of  these 
graces,  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  not  produced,  and  we  shall  see 
in  that  case  that  some  are  wanting.  It  will  be  a  morbid  and  mon- 
strous religion.  There  will  be  zeal,  perhaps,  without  humility ; 
devotion,  without  benevolence  ;  there  will  be  apparently  a  part 
only  of  the  new  man,  as  if  there  should  be  born  the  limbs  only  of 
a  human  body,  or  the  head  or  the  trunk  while  every  limb  was 
wanting.  Now  we  infer,  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  Holy  Ghost 
that  creates  men  anew  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  there  will  be  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  no  such  monstrous  production.  It  may  not  al- 
ways be  easy  to  settle  the  question,  what  extent  of  morbid  growth 
there  may  be  found  in  the  real  believer,  and  where  there  are  seen 
deficiencies  enough  to  decide  the  point  that  the  work  is  not  of  God 
There  may  be,  where  there  is  no  grace,  a  tameness  that  may  look 
like  humility  and  meekness  ;  and  where  there  is  grace,  there  may 


152  THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN. 

be  a  harshness  that  shall  resemble  the  operations  of  unsubdued 
nature.  There  may  be  a  natural  liberality  in  men  who  have  no 
pretensions  to  faith,  that  shall  shame  the  remaining  covetousness 
of  the  believer.  And  still  it  is.  true,  that  where  the  Spirit  of  God 
operates,  he  turns  the  soul  right  in  every  respect.  He  leaves  not 
one  new-born  soul  supremely  selfish,  or  proud,  or  unbelieving,  or 
malevolent,  or  under  the  controlling  influence  of  any  one  unholy 
affection. 

II.  That  the  Christian  will  .exhibit  every  gospel  grace,  and  be, 
in  this  respect,  perfect,  we  argue  from  the  fact,  that  the  moral  ac- 
tions of  the  renewed  man  take  their  character  from  the  heart  that  has 
been  the  subject  of  a  radical  renovation.  While  the  heart  was  un- 
sanctified  every  moral  action  was  wholly  sinful :  "  out  of  the  same 
fountain  proceed  not  s.weet  waters  and  bitter."  And  though,  after 
regeneration,  the  heart  remains  partially  depraved,  still  its  sancti- 
fied character  will  operate  in  all  the  varied  actions  of  life,  and  be 
as  sure  to  produce  one  Christian  grace  as  another,  and  be  sure  to 
produce  them  all  when  the  occasion  requires.  Place  the  man, 
whose  heart  has  been  renovated,  where  he  must  see  iniquity,  and 
he  will  hate  it ;  where  he  must  suffer  abuse,  and  he  will  be  meek  ; 
where  he  must  see  want,  and  he  will  be  charitable  ;  where  he  comes 
in  contact  with  the  .interests  of  others,  and  he  will  be  honest, 
where  he  must  bear  testimony,  and  he  will  be  true.  You  will  see 
ready  to  operate,  a  holy  nature,  and  the  man  will  be,  in  every  as- 
pect, a  Christian.  I  do  not  say  that,  on  every  point,  he  may  not 
sometimes  disobey,  but  that  he  will  more  frequently,  on  every  point, 
obey.  A  good  heart  will  habitually  generate  holy  affections  in  all 
the  various  attitudes  in  which  the  different  moral  objects  may  pre- 
sent themselves^  The  new  man  is  formed  after  the  image  of  God. 
Christ  is  said  to  be  in  his  people  the  hope  of  glory.  Hence,  so  far 
as  the  new  nature  operates,  and  it  will  operate  habitually,  it  will 
produce  actions  and  affections  of  the  same  moral  character,  liou 
may  then  look  at  the  good  man  from  any  point,  and  you  will  see 
him  uniformly  the  man  of  God 

II.  We  argue  that  the  Christian  will  exhibit  every  grace  of  the 
gospel,  and  will,  in  this  respect,  be  the  perfect  man  of  God,  from 
the  harmony  of  truth  which  is  the  medium  of  his  sanctification. 
"  Sanctify  them,"  said  our  Lord,  in  that  prayer  which  he  offered 
for  his  people,  "  sanctify  them  through  thy  truth."  As  there  is  in 
truth  an  infinitely  extended  harmony,  no  one  truth  clashing  with 


THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN.  153 

any  other,  so  the  character  it  shall  form  will  have  the  same  con- 
sistency and  harmony.  The  change  of  character  produced  at  re- 
generation through  the  medium  of  truth  ;  that  same  truth  sustains 
and  renders  fixed,  when  once  established  like  itself,  and  every  fea- 
ture of  that  character  will  harmonize  with  every  other,  and  with 
all  the  others. 

If  truth  so  bears  upon  the  mind,  through  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  to  render  it  humble,  we  are  sure,  from  the  nature 
of  truth,  that  it  can  never  so  bear  upon  the  mind  as  to  render  it 
proud.  If  truth  is  made  to  work  repentance,  neither  the  same 
truth  nor  any  other  truth  will  so  operate  as  to  produce  malice  and 
revenge.  Truth  will  not  produce  opposite  or  clashing  results.  It 
will  not  lead  a  man  to  love  God  and  hate  his  neighbor ,  to  love 
his  Bible  and  hate  the  Sabbath.  It  will  not  generate  kindness  to- 
wards one  class  of  men,  and  unkindness  towards  another.  It  will 
not  produce  a  spirit  of  praise  and  prayer,  and  yet  a  spirit  of  negli- 
gence and  sloth.  As  there  is  in  truth  throughout  a  perfect  one- 
ness, so  will  there  be  in  the  character  that  truth,  in  the  hands  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  is  made  to  produce. 

In  falsehood  there  is  no  harmony,  nor  in  the  character  it  forms. 
We  do  not  wonder  to  see  every  contradiction  and  absurdity  in  the 
character  of  an  ungodly  man.  He  may  be  pr6digal  in  his  expendi- 
tures, and  yet  covetous  ;  may  be  mean,  and  yet  proud ;  may  be 
impudent,  and  yet  impatient  of  contradiction  ;  may  be  a  tyrant  in 
spirit,  and  yet  a  boisterous  advocate  of  liberty.  All  these,  and 
any  other  contradiction  and  absurdity,  may  be  in  the  man  who  has 
subjected  himself  to  the  forming  and  the  control  of  the  father  of 
lies.  But  the  believer,  is  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  truth,  and 
truth  is  consistent  and  harmonious,  and  will  make  a  character  har- 
monious like  itself. 

IV.  We  argue  from  the  nature  of  the  Christian  graces,  that  they 
must  all  be  where  one  is.  Where  one  is  wanting  the  man  of  God 
is  not  perfect.  Love  to  God  contains,  in  its  very  nature,  hatred 
to  what  is  opposed  to  God.  Opposed  to  God  is  sin,  hence  love  to 
him  embraces  hatred  to  sin,  and  repentance  where  sin  has  been 
committed.  Humility  implies  a  deep  sense  of  unworthiness,  and 
becomes  meekness  when  abuse  is  offered.  If  we  feel  that  we  are 
unworthy,  and  humility  feels  this,  then  the  unworthy  may  not 
promptly  and  passionately  resist  evil.  If  I  have  those  low  views 
of  myself,  that  I  feel  as  if  I  deserved  to  be  trodden  down,  that  man 
who  treads  me  down  shall  not  incur  my  deadly  and  implacable 
20 


154  THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN. 

wrath.  If  I  love  to  converse  with  God,  and  his  people  are  like 
him,  I  shall  love  to  converse  with  them ;  hence  love  to  God  and 
Christian  affection  are  twin  exercises,  and  will  both  be  where  one 
is.  If  I  am  benevolent,  and  I  see  my  fellow-men  suffer  when  my 
money  will  relieve  them,  I  shall  be  liberal ;  hence  benevolence  and 
Christian  liberality  are  associate  affections. 

Now  the  same  result  will  follow  if  we  compare  any  two  of  the 
Christian  graces  j  they  are  all  harmonious  in  their  very  nature. 
They  are  all  the  spontaneous  affections  of  the  same  renovated 
heart,  as  it  contemplates  different  objects.  When  moral  beauty 
is  discovered,  it  is  loved  j  when  moral  deformity,  it  is  hated  ;  when 
misery  is  seen,  there  is  felt  compassion  and  benevolence ;  when 
afflictions  are  endured,  there  is  submission  j  when  insults  from 
man,  there  is  meekness ;  when  earth,  with  all  its  sins  and  miseries, 
is  contemplated,  there  is  pain,  and  sorrow,  and  regret ,  when  hea- 
ven, in  all  its  holiness  and  happiness,  is  thought  of,  there  is  appro- 
bation and  joy.  Thus  the  Christian  affections  all  harmonize.  They 
are  branches  of  the  same  graft,  through  which  circulate  the  same 
juices  and  the  same  life  stream  j  hence  one  cannot  be  without  the 
whole :  unless  we  can  suppose,  with  regard  to  some  grace,  a  total 
remove  from  the  objects  that  can  call  it  into  action. 

V.  We  shall  come  to  the  same  result  if  we  observe  how  God,  in 
his  word,  characterizes  his  people.  He  designates  them  by  one 
Christian  grace,  and  applies  to  them  his  largest  promises  under 
this  limited  appellation.  Abraham  is  spoken  of  as  one  that  feared 
God,  and  the  largest  promise  is  made  to  him :  on  another  occasion 
he  is  said  to  have  believed  God,  and  it,  his  faith,  was  accounted  to 
him  for  righteousness.  Said  the  Psalmist,  "  0  how  great  is  thy 
goodness  which  thou  hast  laid  up  for  them  that  fear  thee."  But 
if  the  fear  of  God,  and  faith  in  him,  did  not  imply  love  to  him,  and 
all  the  other  Christian  graces,  then  they  would  have  been  all  named 
in  appropriating  the  promise. 

We  read  that  "  the  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth  round  about 
them  that  fear  him,  and  delivereth  them." — "  There  is  no  want  to 
them  that  fear  him."— "He  will  fulfil  the  desire  of  them  that  fear 
him,  he  will  hear  their  cry,  and  will  save  them."  Thus,  to  those  who 
possess  one  of  the  Christian  graces  are  made  his  largest  promises, 
and  this  could  not  be  if  the  possession  of  this  grace  did  not  imply 
the  possession  of  all  the  others. 

We  find  the  same  is  said  of  them  that  love  God.  "  The  Lord 
preserveth  those  that  love  him.  .  He  will  show  mercy  to  thousands 


THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN.  155 

of  them  that  love  him,  and  keep  his  commandments.  All  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love,  him." — "  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
the  things  that  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him."  All 
this  could  not  be,  were  it  not  true  that  those  who  love  him,  fear 
him  and  trust  him,  and  submit  to  him  ;  or  the  lack  of  one  Christian 
grace  cuts  off  from  heaven,  and  from  the  presence  and  everlasting 
favor  of  God. 

The  righteous,  it  is  promised,  shall  be  glad  in  the  Lord,  and  all 
the  upright  in  heart  shall  glory.  "  Light  is  sown  for  the  righteous, 
and  gladness  for  the  upright  in  heart."  Thus  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired is  promised  to  the  righteous. 

So  those  who  trust  in  the  Lord  may  hope  for  his  largest  bene- 
fits. "  Let  those  that  put  their  trust  in  thee  rejoice,  let  them 
ever  shout  for  joy,  because  thou  defendest  them." 

So  to  faith  the  whole  is  promised.  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

To  the  humble  there  opens  the  same  field  of  promise.  "  God 
forgetteth  not  the  cry  of  the  humble.  By  humility  and  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  are  riches,  and  honor,  and  life.  Whosoever  shall 
humble  himself  as  a  little  child,  the  same  shall  be  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Whosoever  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted." 

We  might  travel  thus  through  the  Christian  graces,  and  show 
that  God  characterizes  his  people  by  any  one  of  them,  and  promis- 
es all  the  comforts  of  this  life,  and  the  joys  of  heaven,  to  the 
person  who  possesses  any  one  of  them.  But  this  could  not  be  if 
the  possession  of  tme  did  not  imply  the  possession  of  all. 

By  turning  to  the  threatenings  we  shall  see,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  want  of  any  one  Christian  grace  cuts  off  the  soul  from 
the  favor  of  God.  "  Wo  to  him  that  striveth  with  his  Maker :" 
here  the  want  of  a  spirit  of  submission  is  woful.  The  want  of  a 
spirit  of  trust  is  ruinous  :  "  Cursed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  man, 
and  maketh  flesh  his  arm,  and  whose  heart  departeth  from  the 
Lord."  The  want  of  humility  is  ruinous :  "  The  proud  he  know- 
eth  afar  off." — "The  Lord  shall  cut  off  the  tongue  that  speaketh 
proud  things." — "  Every  one  that  is  proud  is  an  abomination." — 
"  The  day  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  be  upon  every  one  that  is 
proud  and  lofty,  and  upon  every  one  that  is  lifted  up,  and  he  shall 
be  brought  low."  Thus  we  might  proceed  through  all  the  list  of 
threatenings. 

Now  compare  these  two  views,  and  they  will  furnish  an  argu- 
ment of  great  strength.  God's  richest  blessings  are  promised  to 


156  THE    PERFECTED    GOOD   MAN. 

the  possession  of  one  Christian  grace,  and  his  curse  denounced 
against  those  who  lack  any  one.  Now,  if  it  cannot  be  true  that 
the  good  man  shall  live,  because  he  has  one  attribute  of  life,  and 
die,  because  he  lacks  one,  then  he  that  has  one  has  the  whole.  He 
cannot  enter  into  life  because  he  fears  God,  and  be  lost  because 
he  is  proud.  Hence  every  Christian  has  all  the  Christian  graces. 
They  are  all  connected,  all  proceed  from  the  same  renewed  tem- 
per, are  wrought  by  the  same  sanctifying  Spirit,  are  nourished 
by  the  same  code  of  truth,  and  lead,  each  one,  all  the  others  in  its 
train. 

VI.  The  experience  of  believers  will  prove  to  them  that  there  is 
this  indissoluble  connection  between  the  Christian  graces.  They 
have  all  known  by  happy,  as  well  as  by  unhappy  experience,  that 
if  one  grace  flourish  all  the  other  graces  flourish  with  it,  and  if  one 
withers  all  wither  together. 

Let  us  first  look  at  the  brighter  side  of  the  picture.  The  Christian 
is  placed  where  one  of  the  graces  has  special  opportunity  to  grow 
and  flourish.  He  is  seen  to  grow  in  the  love  of  God.  He  in- 
creases in  the  knowledge  of  God,  has  admiring  apprehension  of 
his  character,  is  absorbed  in  the  wondrous  views  of  his  greatness 
and  goodness,  and  is  in  the  process  of  being  imbued  with  his 
image  from  glory  to  glory.  He  now  increases  in  the  love  of  his 
children.  His  repentance  now  for  sin  is  more  deep  and  pungent 
than  in  times  past.  He  increases  now  in  humility,  in  the  fear  of 
God,  in  a  spirit  of  prayer,  in  heavenly-mindedness,  and,  conse- 
quently, in  the  hope  of  glory.  If  afflicted,  he  is  now  submissive 
and  patient ;  if  abused  by  men,  he  is  now  meek  and  forgiving.  At 
every  point  you  will  see  improvement,  if  you  see  improvement  in 
one  point.  Nourish  one  branch  and  all  the  branches  thrive,  and 
show  signs  of  increasing  health  and  vigor.  There  is,  probably, 
no  believer  who  has  not  been  sensible  of  these  truths  from  his 
own  experience,  nor  has  he  ever  been  sensible  of  the  contrary. 
He  has  not  known  the  time  when  one  grace  flourished,  and  the 
others  decayed.  He  cannot  remember  when  he  became  more 
humble,  and,  at  the  same  time,  less  prayerful ;  more  attached  to 
God,  and  less  attached  to  his  people  ;  more  heavenly-minded,  and 
less  patient  and  submissive. 

If  there  has  been  anything  that  looked  like  this  in  the  experi- 
ence of  the  believer,  it  cannot  be  difficult  to  detect  the  fallacy. 
That  was  not  real  humility,  but  its  counterfeit,  that  flourished 
while  the  man  was  becoming  less  prayerful.  The  very  views  of 


THE   PERFECTED   GOOD    MAN.  157 

God  and  of  sin  that  would  humble  him,  would  also  lead  him  to* 
prayer.  Nor  was  that  genuine  love  of  God  that  increased  while 
he  grew  cold  towards  his  children,  where  is  seen  his  image,  and 
where  beams  his  likeness.  No  j  the  Christian  has  never  been 
sensible  of  the  decay  of  one  grace  in  consequence  of  the  increase 
of  another. 

But  the  other  view  of  this  subject  will  not  fail  to  accord  with 
the  experience  of  all  the  family  of  God.  They  all  knew  when  one 
grace  withered,  all  the  graces  withered  with  it.  They  knew  when 
worldliness  increased,  and  it  cast  the  frost  of  death  over  every 
grace  ;  "  they  grew  cold  in  prayer,  forsook  the  people  of  God," 
were  proud  and  impatient,  and  vain  and  covetous.  They  remem- 
ber when  they  indulged  some  sin,  and  it  immediately  disqualified 
for  duty.  They  were  ashamed  to  go  to  their  closets  when  they 
had  sinned  ;  they  were  ashamed  to  attend  ordinances,  and  perhaps 
dare  not  read  their  Bibles.  "  They  thought  on  God  and  were 
troubled,  and  their  faces  were  ashamed." 

They  felt  the  wound  they  had  given  their  piety  in  every  part, 
lost  their  confidence  as  the  children  of  God,  their  hope  sunk, 
and  their  everlasting  prospects  were  clouded  over.  Now  why 
need  every  grace  wither  because  in  one  point  a  wound  was  inflict- 
ed; why  did  there  circulate  a  poisonous  fluid  through  all  the 
branches  of  the  plant  of  righteousness,  when  only  at  a  single 
point  there  was  inserted  the  sting  of  death,  unless  it  be  that  all  the 
parts  of  the  new  man  are  connected,  draw  their  nourishment  from 
the  same  fountain,  and  are  fed,  if  I  may  keep  up  the  appropriate 
figure,  from  the  same  circulating  medium.  If  we  did  not  know 
that  the  head  and  the  arm  are  united,  still  when  we  find  that  on 
amputating  the  head  the  arm  grows  cold,  we  are  led  to  believe  that 
there  was  such  a  union,  and  that  one  member  has  died  by  ampu- 
tating the  other. 

So  the  Christian  graces  all  spring  into  being  by  the  same  im- 
pulse, and  are  nourished  and  kept  in  vigor  together,  or  together 
wither  and  decay,  as  every  believer's  experience,  can  testify.  I 
close  at  present  with  a  single 

REMARK 

How  much  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  is  seen  in  the 
renewed  man.  With  propriety  is  the  work  of  creating  the  heart 
anew  styled  the  new  creation.  It  may  well  be  compared  to  the 
work  of  building  a  world.  To  see  a  moral  being  filled  with  un- 
governable passions,  creating  in  his  bosom  perpetual  war,  resem- 


158  THE   PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN. 

Wing  the  troubled  sea,  which  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  continually 
cast  up  mire  and  dirt,  so  formed  anew,  that  the  war  and  the  confu- 
sion all  subside,  and  every  affection  harmonizing  with  every  other ; 
how  does  a  work  like  this  display  the  glory  of  God '  In  creating 
man  at  the  first  there  was  nothing  in  the  clay  to  oppose  the  wishes 
of  the  potter ;  but  in  creating  man  anew  there  is  a  nature  produc- 
ed which  is  at  war  with  the  nature  renewed.  The  whole  current 
of  the  soul  is  turned.  Probably  to  no  single  work  that  ever  God 
did,  have  the  angels  looked  with  more  admiring  praise  than  to  this 
new  creation.  Here  God  appears  in  all  his  wisdom,  and  greatness, 
and  goodness.  Here  are  the  finishing  strokes  of  his  power  and  his 
skill.  And,  doubtless,  some  of  the  sweetest  songs  in  heaven  will 
dwelU  eternally  on  the  grand  theme  of  the  new-birth. 


SERMON    XL 
THE  PERFECTED  GOOD  MAN.— NO.  n. 

2   TIM.    III.    17. 

That  the  mail  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works. 

1  PROPOSED  in  the  preceding  sermon  as  my  object  to  show  that 
the  Christian  must  exhibit  all  the  graces  of  the  gospel ;  1  attempt- 
ed to  prove  the  doctrine  from  the  fact,,  that  the  Christian  graces 
are  all  the  operations  of  the  same  Divine  Spirit ;  from  the  fact  that 
all  the  moral  affections  of  the  new  man,  take  their  character  from 
the  renewed  heart ;  from  the  harmony  of  truth  which  is  the  grand 
medium  of  sanctification  ;  from  their  very  nature  ;  from  the  manner 
in  which  God  in  his  word  characterizes  his  people  ;  and  from  the 
experience  of  believers.     I  then  concluded  with  one  remark,  How 
much  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  is  seen  in  the  renewed 
man.     I  now  proceed  to  remark 

2  The  subject  will  help  us  to  solve  the  question  whether  any 
one  of  the  Christian  graces,  will  certainly  take  existence  prior  to  any 
other  one.     It  has  been  contended  by  some  that  repentance,  and  by 
others  that/azVA,  will  be,  without  fail,  the  first  Christian  grace.    But 
I  see  not,  if  the  view  we  have  taken  be  correct,  why  any  other 
grace  as  readily  as  these,  may  not  be  first  in  order  of  time.     No 
one  will  precede  the  rest  by  any  long  space  of  time.     That  exer- 
cise will  be  first  which  has  the  first  opportunity  to  utter  itself. 
Suppose  the  man  born  again  in  some  paroxysm  of  distress ;  who 
can  say  that  he  may  not  put  forth  submission  previously  to  either 
repentance  or  faith  1     Or  suppose  him  to  be  operated  upon  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  at  the  moment  when  he  is  listening  to  some  lucid 
description  of  the  Divine  character,  how  do  we  know  that  he  may 
not  love  that  character  previously  to  his  having  that  view  of  the 
Divine  law,  and  of  his  own  heart,  which  can  produce  repentance  1 
and  so  of  any  other  exercise  of  the  new  heart.     If  among  all  the 
Christian  graces  there  is  a  perfect  harmony,  if  they  all  spring  up 
together,  and  together  flourish,  or  together  decay,  how  needless 
the  dispute,  which  appears  first ;  how  impossible  to  know,  and  how 
unimportant  if  we  did  know !     It  is  quite  sufficient  that  we  be  as- 
sured, that  they  must  all  appear,  must  all  appear  early,  must  all 


160  THE   PERFECTED   GOOD   MAN. 

flourish  together,  and  all  reach  their  consummation  in  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

3.  The  subject  affords  us  an  excellent  criterion  of  character,  by 
which,  would  we  be  honest,  it  would  seem  easy  to  decide  whether 
we  love  God.  If  it  may  not  be  easy  to  decide  that  we  have  any 
particular  grace,  still  it  would  seem  not  difficult,  with  a  moderate 
share  of  wisdom,  to  decide,  that  we  have,  or  have  not,  one  in  the 
whole  catalogue  of  graces.  And  when  the  point  is  settled  that  we 
have  one,  it  is  certain  that  we  have  the  whole.  In  the  inquiry, 
then,  whether  we  have  faith,  if  we  do  not  easily  succeed,  let  us  in- 
quire whether  we  fear  God,  or  whether  we  have  a  spirit  of  prayer, 
or  whether  we  have  meekness  or  humility.  If,  however,  we  have 
to  go  almost  the  whole  round  before  we  fix  on  any  one  Christian 
grace,  the  marks  of  which  appear  in  our  character,  we  shall  have 
great  occasion  to  fear  that  we  have  not  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  If 
we  have  that  faith  we  shall  have  added  all  the  graces  which  con- 
stitute the  new  man.  We  shall  be  humble  because  we  are  sinners, 
we  shall  be  meek,  because  conscious  that  we  often  offend, 
we  shall  be  thankful,  and  benevolent,  we  shall  have,  in  more  or 
less  vigor,  all  the  graces  of  the  Spirit.  There  will  be  all  the  parts 
of  the  new  man.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  rule,  plain  and  simple,  by 
which  to  try  our  characters.  And  if  we  would  rigorously  judge 
ourselves  we  should  not  be  judged. 

4.  As  a  thought  somewhat  distinct  from  the  last,  I  would  sug 
gest  that  if  any  one  of  the  Christian  graces  is  wholly  wanting  it  is 
evidence  conclusive  that  that  person  cannot  possess  the  grace  of 
God.  If  Christ  be  formed  in  us  the  hope  of  glory,  his  image  on 
the -heart  must  be  perfect,  no  limb,  no  member  wanting,  and  if  all 
be  right  in  the  heart,  the  same  will  appear  in  the  life. 

Fix,  then,  your  eye  on  the  man,  who  in  one  point  is  always 
wrong,  whatever  is  true  on  other  points,  and  rest  assured  that  no 
work  of  supererogation,  as  to  other  subjects,  can  make  up  the  de- 
ficiency and  awaken  the  hope  that  he  is  born  of  God.  Can  he 
never  forgive  1  Will  any  offence  committed  against  him,  or  con- 
ceived to  be  committed,  awaken  perpetual  ill-will  1  Then  a  voice 
from  heaven  could  not  satisfy  us  that  that  man  is  born  of  God.  Is 
he  never  benevolent  1  Can  no  occasion  move  him  to  be  generous 
without  the  hope  of  reward  1  Then  is  it  impossible  that  he  should  be 
a  child  of  God  1  Does  he  uniformly  dislike  the  humble,  conscien. 
tious  believer  1  Does  he  always  select  his  associates  and  his  con- 
fidents from  the  men  of  the  world  1  Then  is  it  certain  that  he 
does  not  love  the  brother  whom  he  hath  seen ;  and  how  can  he  love 


THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN.  161 

God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  1  There  must  be  no  particular  in 
which  the  man  of  God  does  not  obey  his  Lord,  else  being  unfaith- 
ful in  the  least,  he  is  unfaithful  also  in  much.  I  do  not  say  that 
at  times  the  good  man  may  not  transgress  any  law,  but  I  say, 
without  the  fear  that  the  last  day  will  pronounce  me  a  liar,  that  at 
times  the  child  of  God  obeys  every  law,  and  that  he,  who  on  one 
point  is  always  wrong,  is  not  born  of  God.  Hereby  do  we  know 
that  we  love  him  if  we  keep  his  commandments.  He  that  saith,  I 
know  him,  and  keepeth  not  his  commandments,  is  a  liar,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  him. 

Now,  to  make  this  matter  obvious,  suppose  a  servant  was  obe- 
dient in  every  thing  but  one,  but  in  that  one  would  never  obey,  is 
he  subject  or  is  he  not  to  the  authority  of  his  master  1  Will  he 
not  be  pronounced  a  disobedient  servant  I  Now  it  is  just  so  m 
the  things  of  God.  There  cannot  be  one  law,  suppose  that  law 
the  least  important,  if  you  please,  in  the  whole  list  of  precepts, 
that  the  child  of  God  never  will  obey.  God  has  no  such  son  or 
servant  in  his  house.  Judging  by  this  rule,  how  many  who  pro- 
fess godliness  must  come  short  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  How 
many  are  there  who  were  never  humble  for  a  single  moment  in  all 
their  life  !  How  many  were  never  seen  to  do  a  benevolent  act ! 
How  many  never  once  possessed  a  spirit  of  prayer  !  How  many 
have  always  stood  aloof  from  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus ! 
How  many  were  never  for  an  hour  heavenly-minded  !  How  many 
never  knew  how  to  forgive  !  How  many  have  uniformly  quarrelled 
with  some  doctrine  of  the  Bible  !  How  many  have  never  for  an 
hour  ceased  to  love  the  world,  and  the  things  of  the  world,  making 
it.  manifest  that  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  them. 

If  there  is  no  monstrous  Christian,  as  has  been  attempted 
to  be  proved,  but  a  perfect  harmony  among  the  Christian  graces, 
I  shall  not  need  to  make  an  apology  for  asserting  that  where 
any  one  of  them  is  never  seen,  there  none  of  them  has  ever 
been.  Christ  will  receive  none  to  heaven,  who  have  a  part  only  of 
his  image.  We  are  to  follow  him  in  the  regeneration,  else,  when 
he  comes  in  the  glory  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  holy  angels,  we  shall 
be  shut  out  of  his  kingdom.  And  we  are  to  follow  him  wholly. 

Brethren,  I  do  not  believe  that  I  ever  urged  a  truth  more  im- 
portant than  this.  I  wish  to  try  my  own  character  by  it,  and  I 
wish  you  may  all  make  the  same  use  of  it.  Are  we,  at  least  some- 
times, in  the  exercise  of  every  Christian  grace  1  Is  there  any 
point  where  it  can  be  said,  that  we  never  obey  1  If  there  is,  then 
21 


162  THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN. 

are  we  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  under  the  bonds  of  iniquity, 
sure  as  the  truth  of  God  will  stand. 

5.  The  subject  should  caution  us  not  to  offend  in  one  point,  lest 
the  evil  be  felt  in  all  points.     I  mean  by  this  remark  simply,  that 
we  should  be  afraid  to  cease  for  a  moment,  when  the  occasion  re- 
quires, to  exercise  every  Christian  grace,  lest  all  the  graces  imme- 
diately suffer.     We  are  careful  not  to  wound  the  smallest  member 
of  the  body,  though  we  could  spare  it  without  much  damage,  be- 
cause it  is  materially  connected  with  all  the   other  parts  of  the 
body.     It  may  cost  one  his  life  to  bruise  his  smallest  finger.    Now 
let  the  simile  apply.     Would  you  esteem  it  a  great  calamity  to  be 
cold  in  your  affections  towards  God,  then  be  very  cautious  not  to 
let  your  love  cool  towards  his  people,  for  no  sooner  will  you  feel 
cold  towards  them,  than  you  will  begin  to  cool  in  your  affections 
towards  God.     Would  you  not  lose  a  spirit  of  prayer,  then  be  care- 
ful not   to   become  worldly-minded,  for  when   you    c"ease  to  be 
heavenly-minded,  you  will  cease  to  have  often  an  errand  to  your 
closet.     Do  you  prize  highly  your  Christian  hope,  and  would  not 
part  with  it  for  a  world,  then  be  afraid  to  let  any  one  grace  cease 
to  be  exercised,  for  your  hope  will  languish  with  it. 

You  cannot  keep  the  body  in  a  healthy  state,  and  suffer  one 
member  to  mortify,  nor  the  soul,  if  you  suffer  one  grace  to  lan- 
guish. It  would  be  a  good  question  every  night,  Has  any  part  of 
the  new  man  been  injured  to-day  \  And  if  so,  how  can  the  wound 
be  healed  1  Have  I  ceased  to  watch  1  Have  I  indulged  pride,  or 
envy,  or  anger  1  Have  I  ceased  to  be  prayerful  and  heavenly- 
minded  1  Have  I  resisted  evil,  when  I  should  have  been  meek  1 
Have  I  rebelled,  when  I  should  have  submitted  1  Have  I  been 
overcome  of  evil,  when  I  should  have  overcome  evil  with  good  1 
Thus  should  this  awful  subject  awaken  our  keenest  anxieties,  lest 
before  we  have  realized  the  consequence,  we  hazard  the  health  of 
the  inner  man,  and  pierce  ourselves  through  with  many  sorrows. 

6.  The  subject  gives  us  a  view  of  the  whole  matter  of  backsliding. 
We  see   how  it  begins  :  the  Christian,  in  an  hour  of  temptation, 
lets  down  his  watch,  and  ceases  to  exercise  one  of  the  Christian 
graces.    Say  he  is  accused,  and  instead  of  being  meek,  returns  evil 
for  evil,  wrath  for  wrath ;  the  evening  comes,  and  he  has  no  spirit 
of  prayer ;  the  morning  comes,  and  he  loses  sight  of  heaven,  and 
becomes  worldly-minded.     He  ceases  to  have  a  relish  for  the  com- 
pany and  conversation  of  believers,  becomes  proud  and  covetous, 
and  finally  loses  almost  all  his  relish  for  divine  things.     The  evil 
began  at  a  point,  but  has  widened  in  its  course.     It  seemed  a  small 


THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN.  163 

matter  at  the  first,  but  is  now  a  wide-spread  and  tremendous 
calamity.  The  man  had  better  have  suffered  any  calamity  than  have 
permitted  his  passions  to  rise.  He  did  not  realize,  and  could  not, 
how  dire  was  the  plague,  whose  infection  he  inhaled.  So  we*  have 
seen  the  finger  wounded  by  a  thorn,  and  in  a  few  hours  the  whole 
nervous  system  was  in  torture,  and  often  death  was  the  result. 
Ah !  how  rich  is  that  grace  that  saves  the  backslider  from  final 
and  fearful  apostacy ! 

We  have  sometimes  wondered  to  see  how  in  every  point  the 
backslider  is  gone  away  from  the  path  of  life  ;  you  cannot  name 
the  case  or  the  occasion  where  he  acts  out  his  former  character. 
He  is  worldly  and  prayerless,  does  not  love  the  people  of  God,  is 
proud,  and  negligent,  and  passionate,  and  envious,  and  selfish — he 
is  all  wrong.  Now  if  I  have  given  a  correct  view  of  this  subject, 
we  are  to  expect  it  to  be  so.  The  Christian  graces  are  all  con- 
nected, must  flourish  or  decay  together.  Hence  he  cannot  go 
wide  astray  in  one  particular,  and  yet  in  other  respects  hold  his 
former  standing.  One  branch  of  the  plant  of  righteousness  was 
wounded,  and  the  whole  withered.  And  should  it  ever  revive,  the 
reform  must  begin  as  the  decay  did,  at  a  point,  and  become  gen- 
eral. The  man  must  be  converted  again  as  at  the  first,  by  the 
same  power,  and  by  the  same  means  by  which  he  was  then  brought 
out  of  darkness  into  marvellous  light.  So  Peter  after  his  fall 
needed  a  new  conversion,  and  would  then  be  able  to  strengthen 
his  brethren.  Hence  prays  the  believer,  as  he  begins  to  recover, 
"restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation,  and  uphold  me  with 
thy  free  Spirit."  "Tell  me,  oh  thou  whom  my  soul  loveth,  where 
thou  feedest,  where  thou  makest  thy  flock  to  rest  at  noon,  for 
why  should  I  be  as  one  that  turneth  aside  by  the  flocks  of  thy 
companions." 

7.  The  subject  will  teach  us  how  to  deal  with  believers  in  dis- 
tress. We  must  lead  them  to  inquire,  where  and  when  they 
began  to  offend,  and  of  course  to  suffer.  There  the  remedy  must 
be  applied.  We  should  not  undertake  to  cure  the  body  of  pain, 
to  the  neglect  of  some  wounded  member,  where  the  whole  evil 
began.  We  should  at  least  attend  to  the  part  affected,  that  we 
might  dry  up  the  source  of  corruption,  and  thus  lay  the  foundation 
for  returning  health. 

So  the  distressed  backslider  must  discover  where  he  received 
his  first  injury.  What  sin  did  he  commit,  what  lust  did  he  in- 
dulge, what  duty  did  he  neglect,  when  the  darkness  and  distress 
which  he  now  suffers  came  upon  him  I  Here  he  must  repent  and 


164  THE    PERFECTED    GOOD    MAN. 

do  his  first  works.  Howler  difficult  the  duty,  or  great  the  self- 
denial,  he  must  tread  back  his  guilty  steps,  or  may  abandon  the 
hope  that  his  soul  can  be  restored  to  health  and  vigor. 

God  does  not  cast  his  people  into  darkness  wantonly,  does  not 
withdraw  the  Divine  influences  without  occasion.  If  he  hides  his 
face  it  is  because  he  sees  some  sin  to  rebuke.  There  is  some 
point  where  there  is  a  renewal  of  the  old  controversy,  and  God 
resolves  that  we  shall  walk  in  darkness,  till  we  are  reconciled  to 
him.  Would  you  then  do  good  to  the  backsliding  believer,  urge 
him  to  inquiry  and  repentance  relative  to  the  first  acts  of  his  de- 
cline. What  was  it  that  first  offended  God  1  When  did  he  first 
refuse  to  hear  your  prayers  1  When  did  he  cloud  your  hopes  1. 
When  had  you  first  a  cold  and  comfortless  communion'?  And 
what  sin  was  it  that  shut  you  out  from  your  heavenly  Father's 
presence  1.  Where  on  the  new  man  was  the  wound  inflicted  that 
has  rankled  till  the  disease  has  become  general  1  On  this  spot 
keep  the  eye  fixed,  and  here  let  every  effort  be  made  to  restore 
health.  Else  expect  not  that  God  will  uncover  to  you  the  beauties 
of  his  face. 

8.  If  it  should  seem  a  calamity  that  the  believer  should  be  so 
extensively  exposed,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  he  is  just  so  ex- 
tensively qualified  to  receive  good.  As  he  can  be  injured  through 
the  medium  of  any  one  Christian  grace ;  so  through  the  medium 
of  any  one  ne  may  receive  quickening  and  joy.  As  in  a  wide  and 
expanded  relationship,  we  are  greatly  liable  to  be  wounded  and 
pained,  so  through  the  same  medium  we  have  multiplied  advan- 
tages for  joy  and  rejoicing. 

The  broader  our  sympathies,  the  broader  our  sufferings  and  con- 
solations. So  the  senses,  spread  all  over  the  human  body,  and 
thus  expose  a  broad  surface  to  the  infliction  of  wounds  and  the 
endurance  of  pains,  are  also  the  broad  inlets  of  pleasure.  So  in 
the  new  man  there  is  kept  up  the  same  analogy  of  providence.  It 
is  not,  however,  in  any  of  these  cases  to  be  viewed  as  a  calamity. 
If  the  believer  can  be  wounded  at  many  points,  so  at  many  points 
can  he  receive  nourishment  and  joy.  Let  him  cultivate  industri- 
ously any  of  the  Christian  graces,  and  the  whole  will  thrive.  For 
instance  let  him  aim  at  maintaining  constantly  a  spirit  of  prayer, 
and  we  have  very  little  doubt  that  he  will  find  all  the  Christian 
graces  invigorated.  Let  him  cultivate  a  spirit  of  benevolence,  and 
he  will  give  the  new  man  an  impulse  in  every  limb  and  member. 
Let  him  fan  the  flame  of  Christian  love,  and  it  will  kindle  a  fire 
that  will  quicken  the  whole  pulsation  of  spiritual  life.  So  if  you 


THE    PERFECTED    QOOQ    MAN,  165 

water  a  single  root  of  the  tree  or  plant,  that  is  perishing  .with 
drought,  you  refresh  every  branch,  and  extend  a  benign  influence 
to  the  smallest  fibre.  The  Christian,  then,  who  is  sensible,  I  do 
not  say  of  having  grossly  backslidden,  but  of  not  being  in  that 
state  of  spiritual  health  and  growth  that  is  desirable,  may  com- 
mence reform  at  any  point  he  pleases.  If  he  will  begin  this  eve- 
ning to  nourish  any  one  Christian  grace,  he  will  find  himself  re- 
vived throughout.  Collect  about  you  your  Christian  brethren, 
realize  your  -relation  to  them,  open  your  mind  freely  to  them  on 
the  great  subject  of  your  spiritual  brotherhood,  on  the  place  and 
the  pleasures  of  your  future  rest,  and  draw  more  closely  the  bond 
of  love,  repeat  the  experiment  every  week,  or  if  possible  every  day 
till  you  feel  that  you  cannot  live  without  them,  and  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated from  them,  that  their  God  is  your  God,  their  Savior  your  Sav- 
ior,'their  Comforter  yours,  and  their  everlasting  home  the  place  of 
your  rest.  By  the  time  you  have  accomplished  all  this,  if  there  is 
any  such  relationship  as  I  have  endeavored  to  establish  among  the 
Christian  graces,  you  will  find  yourselves  revived  throughout.  You 
will  feel  a  more  ardent  love  to  God,  you  will  have  a  spirit  of  prayer, 
you  will  be  humbled  for  sin,  you  will  exercise  an  expanded  benevo- 
lence, and  your  mind  will  become  heavenly  and  happy.  Or  if  you 
please,  cultivate  a  spirit  of  prayer,  go  many  times  a  day  to  your 
closet,  till  you  find  yourself  living  near  the  throne,  and  all  the 
good  effects  predicted  in  the  other  case  will  immediately  follow. 
Before  you  call  God  will  answer,  and  while  they  are  yet  speaking 
he  will  hear,  open  your  mouth  wide  and  he  will  fill  it ;  make  a 
large  request,  and  unmeasured  blessings  will  be  granted  you. 

Think  not,  however,  to  neglect  repentance  ;  this  must  begin  and 
keep  pace  with  every  reform  5  if  you  have  grown  negligent  in  any 
Christian  duty,  it  is  a  great  sin,  and  there  must  be  deep  repent- 
ance. The  order  of  your  restoration  invariably  must  be,  "  repent 
and  do  your  first  works."  This  is  beginning  where  your  decay 
commenced,  and  where  God  will  infallibly  meet  with  you  and  bless 
you.  He  has  thus  promised,  and  has  a  thousand  and  a  thousand 
times  fulfilled  this  promise.  Break  up  the  fallow  ground,  sow  not 
among  the  thorns. 

FINALLY.  We  see  how  we  are  to  set  about  cultivating  true  and 
extensive  peace.  Men  must  be  at  peace  with  themselves,  by  hav- 
ing all  the  Christian  graces  in  exercise,  else  they  can  neither  be 
at  peace  with  God  or  man.  Let  every  man  have  war  within,  and 
peace  in  society  is  impossible.  With  ungodly  men  there  is  al- 


166  THE    PERFECTED  GOOD    MAN. 

ways  a  war  in  their  own  bosoms  :  now  let  the  few  believers,  who  are 
associated  with  them,  be  in  a  state  of  coldness,  or  of  backsliding, 
and  then  hope  to  bind  the  whole  mass  together  by  the  bond  of 
love,  and  you  might  as  well  hope  to  build  another  world.  You 
may  blame  one,  and  another,  and  another,  as  the  breakers  of  the 
peace,  but  peace  will  not  be  restored,  till  each  one  blames  himself, 
and  begins  a  reformation  at  home.  Men  may  exercise  their  wis- 
dom in  attempts  to  make  peace  without  purity.  But  the  wisdom 
that  is  from  above  is  first  pure  and  then  peaceable.  The  promise  is, 
"  If  ye  walk  in  my  statutes,  I  will  give  peace  in  your  land."  Said 
one  whom  God  inspired,  "  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace 
whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee,  because  he  trusteth  in  thee." 

He  then  that  would  be  a  peace-maker  in  these  times  of  rebuke 
and  blasphemy,  must  aim  to  awaken  religious  feeling,  and  raise 
the  standard  of  piety.  Bring  men  together,  who  have  forsaken 
God,  who  have  neglected  prayer,  who  have  become  supremely  at- 
tached to  the  present  world,  and  attempt  to  form  between  them 
some  amiable  compact,  and  you  might  as  well  yoke  the  lightning 
and  the  thunder  to  the  summer  breeze  and  bid  them  go  forth  in 
calmness  and  serenity. 


SERMON    XII. 

• 

INIQUITY  FINISHED. 

JAMES  I.  15. 

Sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death. 

WE  dwell  in  a  world  where  nothing  reaches  maturity  in  a  mo- 
ment. Things  begin  to  be,  they  grow,  and  they  ripen.  The  acorn 
becomes  a  wide-spread  oak ;  the  infant  a  man ;  and  the  little  rivu- 
let a  majestic  stream,  that  widens  its  bed,  and  deepens  its  channel, 
as  it  urges  its  way  to  the  ocean.  Hence  there  is  nothing  to  which 
we  are  more  accustomed  than  growth.  There  is  the  infancy,  the 
middle  age,  and  the  maturity  of  all  created  things. 

And  it  would  seem  that  the  same  is  true  of  things  to  which  we 
cannot  apply  the  term  created.  Holiness  is  begun,  it  progresses, 
and  is  perfected.  Character  has  its  embryo,  its  progress,  and  its 
completion.  And  in  the  text  sin  is  spoken  of  as  capable  of  being 
finished,  and  then  its  fruit  is  death.  And  yet  sin,  as  the  term  is 
used  in  the  text,  is  figurative.  Every  sin  is  a  perfect  whole,  as 
soon  as  it  has  a  being  ;  a  wrong  that  every  enlightened  conscience 
must  disapprove,  and  which  God  condemns.  But  sinful  habit  or 
character,  which  no  doubt  the  apostle  intends  by  the  term,  may 
have  its  beginning,  its  growth,  and  its  harvest.  And  the  natural 
fruit  is  death.  But  character  or  habit,  in  order  to  come  to  this 
disastrous  result,  must  attach  themselves  to  moral  intelligence. 

Hence  the  text  will  lead  us  to  speak  of  men  who  mature  a  wick- 
ed character  and  thus  ensure  the  death  spoken  of,  which  can  be  no 
other  but  the  future  misery  of  the  soul.  "  The  wages  of  sin  is 
death."  Life  is  the  result  of  obedience,  death  of  disobedience. 
This  is  the  unchangeable  decree  of  God.  If  men  will  violate  the 
commands  of  God  and  mature  a  character  that  he  disapproves,  he 
will  shut  them  from  his  presence  ;  and  this  is  death.  He  may  stop 
them  before  their  iniquities  are  ripe,  'as  the  rock  rolling  from  the 
mountain's  top,  may  meet  some  mighty  barrier  that  can  resist  its 
impulse,  which  else  will  plough  its  path  to  the  glen,  or  imbed  it- 
self in  the  bosom  of  the  stream.  The  growth  of  sin  at  first  may 
be  slow,  but  it  ripens  fast  as  it  reaches  towards  the  time  of  harvest 


168  INIQUITY  FINISHED, 

When  men  have  begun  to  disobey  the  law  of  God,  and  are  casting 
off  the  terrors  of  his  threatenings,  and  conscience  becomes  silenc- 
ed, a  desperate  character,  unless  the  grace  of  God  prevent,  can 
soon  be  matured.  Many  a  lad  in  our  streets  has  set  out  in  the  ca- 
reer of  sin,  and  become  a  daring  young  man,  but  had  yet  no  idea, 
where  and  how  soon  his  career  would  terminate.  At  first,  perhaps, 
his  way  seemed  pleasant.  He  slid  down  the  smooth  decliyity, 
without  obstruction  and  without  alarm.  Had  he  dreamed  of  the 
ruin  that  yawned  before  him,  he  would  have  trembled  in  the  outset. 
But  he  saw  not  the  end  of  his  course,  till  he  felt  the  fall  that  crush- 
ed him  to  powder.  Let  me  illustrate  the  subject. 

I.  The  game  of  chance  finds  its  maturity  in  the  abandoned  gambler, 
No  matter  with  what  materials  or  in  what  circumstances  the  habit 
commences.  The  transition  from  the  game  less  criminal,  institut- 
ed for  mere  amusement,  to  that  where  oaths  are  uttered,  and  fraud 
practised,  and  wealth  squandered,  and  character  staked,  is  easy  and 
convenient.  The  practice  should  be  to  a  thinking  mind  frightful, 
were  there  no  danger  of  the  habit  being  fixed.  The  waste  of  time 
is  an  obvious  evil.  No  man  of  sense  will  say,  that  the  time  spent 
at  the  game  is  well  spent.  Is  the  mind  enlarged  1  Is  the  heart 
improved  1  Are  the  habits  rectified  1  Is  the  man  made  holier  or 
happier  at  the  game  1  Do  we  see  the  gambler  useful  to  his  coun- 
try, kind  to  his  family,  a  man  of  science,  industry,  and  virtue  1  Is 
he  spoken  of  as  the  benefactor  of  his  fellow-men,  and  his  death  la- 
mented as  a  light  put  out,  a  blessing  withdrawn  1  Then  why  as- 
sert his  time  well  spent  1  While  he  neither  blesses  himself  nor 
others,  is  he  answering  the  end  of  his  being  1  Is  he  living  to  any 
of  those  purposes  for  which  God  created  him  1  Then  his  time  is 
lost.  And  have  we  time  to  lose  1  An  immortal  being  on  his  way 
to  the  grave,  and  much  to  do  in  preparation  for  eternity — has  he 
time  to  lose  1  Has  God  assigned  us  a  longer  probation  than  was 
necessary  ?  And  if  not,  should  any  of  its  hours  be  lost  1  And  if 
lost,,  will  not  some  of  our  work  remain  undone  when  the  Master 
comes  1 

But  loss  of  time  is  not  the  whole  evil  of  the  game  ;  the  mind  is 
dissipated.  Who  ever  made  the  experiment  and  did  not  find  him- 
self, both  at  the  time  and  afterward,  less  qualified  for  serious 
thought  and  reflection  1  Suppose  there  are  neither  oaths  nor  cur- 
ses at  the  game,  does  the  little,  the  trifling,  and  the  silly  conversa- 
tion of  the  hour  enlarge  or  discipline  the  mind!  Do  noble  senti- 
ments spring  up,  and  does  manly  and  dignified  thought  originate 


INIQUITY    FINISHED.  169 

with  the  cast  of  the  die,  or  the  shuffle  of  the  card  1  Does  the  man 
rise  with  a  purer  intellect,  or  one  less  pure,  from  the  gaming-table"? 
fs  serious  business  more  welcome,  or  less  sol  Are  the  domestic 
duties  better  discharged  afterwards,  or  worse  ?.  Is  the  man  more 
or  less  fitted  for  manly  occupations  1  On  all  these  questions  there 
can  be  but  one  opinion. 

No^can  it  be  denied  that  the  mind  is  enfeebled  and  contracted, 
as  well  as  dissipated,  by  being  employed  at  the  game.  Be  it  allow- 
ed, and  even  this  may  be  disputed,  that  it  comports  with  the  levity 
and  thoughtlessness  of  childhood,  still  very  illy  does  it  quadrate 
with  the  sedateness  of  the  father  and  the  husband.  The  man  must 
feel,  who  lends  a  hand  to  the  game,  that  he  lays  aside  what  is  ve- 
nerable in  years  and  gray  hairs,  and  puts  on  the  child.  He  be- 
comes a  "  little  being"  and  should  not  be  caught  thus  letting  down 
his  dignity. 

Let  any  one  approach  unseen  to  the  place  of  the  game  and  tal^e 
down  the  jumble  of  language  and  read  it  to  the  parties,  and  if  they 
did  not  feel  little  before,  they  would  feel  little  now.  I  know  that 
men  may  have  practised  the  game  for  mere  amusement  and  escaped 
the  ruin  that  impends,  but  multitudes  have  been  less  happy,  and 
have  gone  this  way  to  irrecoverable  ruin. 

It  is  a  sin  which  strangely  bewitches  the  mind,  which  gathers 
strength  by  indulgence,  and  which,  when  finished  in  the  confirmed 
gambler,  bringeth  forth  death. 

His  character  is  a  compound  of  the  basest  selfishness,  cool  ma- 
lignity, subtle  impiety,  fell  desperation,  and  unrestrained  appetite. 
And  let  it  be  finished,  and  the  man  is  ready  for  fraud,  robbery, 
murder,  suicide,  treason,  or  any  other  species  of  crime,  and  then 
the  fruit  is  death.  Else  tell  me  when  the  confirmed  gambler  was 
reformed,  and  became  either  a  Christian  or  a  decent  m$^|.  Should 
you  be  able  to  bring  forward  one  case,  I  can  place  beside  it  a  hun- 
dred where  the  result  was  tragical.  The  instance  you  adduce, 
does  but  prove  that  God  is  stronger  than  the  strong  man  armed, 
and  can  tame  the  heart  at  any  stage  of  its  desperation.  But  the 
hope  in  such  a  case  is  a  spider's  web.  "  Sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
bringeth  forth  death." 

II.  Indulgence  in  the  cup  is  matured  in  the  sot.  Few,  when  they 
began  to  look  upon  the  cup,  and  tasted  its  inebriating  contents, 
intended  to  yield  themselves  victims  to  the  destroyer.  They  drank, 
at  first,  to  be  sociable,  or,  it  may  be,  to  promote  health,  or  exon- 
erate themselves  from  the  charge  of  singularity.  Not  a  world 
22 


170  INIQUITY    FINISHED. 

would  tempt  them  to  excess,  nor  many  worlds  induce  them  to  draw 
upon  themselves  the  reputation  of  intemperance  ;  but  ere  they  have 
thought  of  tljeir  danger,  they  are  caught  in  the  snare.  But  when 
once  overtaken,  still  they  intend  to  proceed  no  farther.  They  can 
and  they  will  govern  their  appetite,  and  have  only  their  occasional 
scenes  of  indulgence. 

Meanwhile  conscience  has  given  the  alarm,  and  is  hushed  and 
silenced.  False  sentiments  are  embraced,  tending  to  lessen  the 
sin,  or  hide  its  progress,  or  neutralize  its  consequences.  By  de- 
grees the  heart  is  hardened,  the  conscience  seared,  the  habit  con- 
firmed, temptations  multiplied,  and  the  man  is  seen  to  yield  up 
himself  a  confirmed  inebriate.  This  character  of  him  goes  out, 
and  he  is  seen  to  throw  off  the  restraint  of  public  sentiment,  that 
last  hold  that  society  had  up9n  him.  His  credit  is  gone,  the  peace 
of  his  home  is  destroyed,  his  family  is  desolate,  his  friends  with- 
draw from  him,  he  must  shrink  from  what  little  shred  of  reputation 
remains,  from  what  of  respect  is  still  shown  him,  from  any  office 
he  fills,  from  the  hopes  that  have  buoyed  up  his  spirits,  and  from 
the  whole  of  that  enchanting  vision  that  opened  before  him. 

Some  infidel  doctrine  is  suggested  by  the  unsanctified  heart  to 
prop  his  sinking  steps.  The  apprehensions  of  futurity  are  gone, 
and  now  the  last  ligature  is  sundered  that  bound  him  to  comfort 
and  character,  and  hope,  and  heaven ;  and  he  cares  not,  at  length, 
if  he  is  seen  reeling  through  the  streets  a  confirmed  drunkard ! 
Now  his  health  withers,  and  he  sees  the  grave  yawning,  and  hell 
moving  beneath.  Now,  did  he  intend  at  first  that  the  habit  of  tip- 
pling should  become  thus  matured!  Did  he  calculate  on  this  total 
abandonment  of  comfort,  of  character,  of  credit,  of  confidence,  of 
hope,  of  life,  and  of  heaven  1  But  his  sin  is  finished.  He  is  snared 
in  the  woA  of  his  own  hands,  and,  it  may  be,  he  ends  his  days  as 
a  suicide  or  a  felon.  Or,  if  otherwise,  he  comes  to  a  loathsome 
and  deserted  death-bed,  and  sees  his  poor  life  going  out,  while 
there  dawns  on  him  no  hope  of  heaven,  nor  comes  to  his  help  any 
arm  that  can  snatch  him  from  the  jaws  of  death,  or  hold  him  back 
from  the  worm  that  shall  never  die,  and  the  fire  that  shall  never  be 
quenched.  His  sin  is  finished ;  "  and'  sin,"  as  we  have  said, 
u  when  it  is  finished  bringeth  forth  death." 

III.  Covetousness  finds  its  maturity  in  the  swindler ,  the  thief,  and 
the  robber.  This,  in  its  beginning,  can  scarcely  be  distinguished 
from  a  virtue.  It  has  on  the  face  of  prudence  and  economy,  and 
can  be  so  impudent  as  to  claim  the  Bible  as  its  advocate.  "  If  any 


INIQUITY    FINISHED.  171 

provide  not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for  those  of  his  own  house, 
he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  Thus  sup- 
ported, it  claims  the  countenance  of  the  wise  and  the  good,  and 
seems  removed  but  a  single  hair's  breadth  from  a  virtue. 

Still  God  denounces  it  as  a  vice.  It  is  an  undue  desire  of  wealth, 
and  becomes,  with  the  slightest  temptation,  a  wish  to  enjoy  what 
belongs  to  another.  This  vice,  in  its  early  stages,  may  resort  to 
means  that  are  lawful — industry,  and  a  close  but  not  generally  re- 
puted dishonest  manner  of  dealing.  By  degrees,  however,  there 
is  adopted  a  loose  but  licensed  swindling.  The  creditor  is  kept 
out  of  his  due  ;  the  hireling  of  his  wages;  and  the  poor  of  their 
supply.  The  article  vended  has  its  price  advanced  ;  and  what  is 
purchased,  proportionably  depressed.  Advantage  is  taken  of  the 
necessitous  and  the  slack  in  trade.  These  oppressive  measures, 
as  the  sin  grows,  gives  place  to  others,  which  no  law  of  God  or 
man  can  be  compelled  to  defend.  A  total  mis-statement  of  facts 
accompanies  every  act  of  commerce,  till  there  is  an  entire  abandon- 
ment of  that  golden  rule,  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  others 
should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them."  Now,  unless  the 
fear  of  detection  hold  him  back,  the  man  is  prepared  for  any  enter- 
prise that  can  gratify  a  sordid  mind,  for  theft  or  robbery.  And  it 
may  be  that,  unperceived,  these  iniquities  are  practised.  There 
may  be  many  a  thief,  and  many  a  robber,  who  has  yet  on  the  face 
of  honesty,  and  the  attire  and  the  reputation  of  a  gentleman.  Not 
one  of  the  whole  fraternity  ever  intended  to  be  discovered.  But 
unless  the  grace  of  God  prevents,  the  covetous  man  will,  finally, 
mature  the  vice  he  nourishes,  "  and  sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bring- 
eth  forth  death."  The  whole  band  of  speculators  are  in  imminent 
danger  of  maturing  this  vice. 

The  Scriptures  furnish  us  with  some  striking  instances  of  this 
sin  finished.  You  will  readily  recur  to  the  case  of  Achan.  He 
was  one  of  the  three  thousand  sent  of  Joshua  to  subdue  the  city 
of  Ai.  The  spoil  was  to  be  devoted  to  God.  But  the  covetous 
Achan  saw  a  rich  Babylonish  garment,  and  two  hundred  shekels 
of  silver,  and  a  wedge  of  gold.  What  he  saw  he  coveted,  and 
what  he  coveted  he  took,  and  then  must  lie  to  hide  the  crime. 
Thus  we  see  an  instance  where  this  sin  came  to  maturity ;  and 
the  result  was,  that  he  and  all  his  house,  his  flocks,  and  all  that 
he  had,  were  stoned  to  death,  and  burned  with  fire.  Thus  "  sin, 
when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death." 

The  case  of  Ahab  is  in  point.  He  coveted  Naboth's  vineyard. 
But  Naboth  would  not  part  with  his  patrimonial  inheritance ;  and 


172  INIQUITY    FINISHED. 

for  refusing  he  must  die,  and  the  dogs  must  feed  upon  his  blood. 
You  remember  the  history.  The  result  was,  that  the  dogs  licked 
Ahab's  blood,  and  that  of  his  family,  in  the  same  place  where  they 
had  feasted  upon  the  blood  of  'Naboth.  Here,  again,  the  sin  of 
covetousness  was  finished,  and  it  brought  forth  death. 

And  the  case  of  Judas  is  written  in  lines  of  blood.  He  must 
have  had  once  a  reputable  character,  and  when  admitted  to  the 
apostolic  office  was  unimpeachable.  But  he  was  covetous ;  and 
being  made  purse-bearer  for  the  little  family,  accustomed  himself 
to  purloin  its  contents.  This  might  have  been  his  practice  for 
years,  hence  his  master  denominated  him  a  "  thief."  When  oppor- 
tunity was,  at  length,  given  him  to  betray  the  Lord  Jesus,  the 
temptation  was  too  strong,  and  he  pocketed  the  price  of  blood,  and 
ended  his  career  a  suicide.  Here  again  the  sin  was  finished,  and 
brought  forth  death.  And  I  could  tell  you  of  Ananias  and  Sap- 
phira,  and  a  host  of  others,  who  have  followed  in  the  same  train, 
and  have  earned  and  reaped  the  same  destiny.  Every  mail's  in- 
telligence, and  every  court  of  police  exhibit  another  and  another 
victim  perishing  by  the  same  iniquity. 

IV.  Lasciviousness  has  its  maturity  in  the  pollutions  and  obsceni- 
ties of  the  brothel.     I  know  that  decency  shrinks  from  the  very 
terms  we  must  use  on  this  subject,  and  still  the  sin  must  be  ex- 
posed.    If  the  sight  can  be  endured,  go  once  to  those  wretched 
abodes,  where  are  bound  on  the  altar  of  impurity,  her  thousands 
of  ill-fated  victims,  and  ask  them  their  individual  history,  and  they 
will  tell  you  how  their  sin  became  finished.     They  will  relate  to 
you  how  they  fell  in  with  some  vile  associate,  while  yet  they  had 
been  uncontaminated.  who  polluted  their  imaginations,  which  led, 
in  an  evil  hour,  to  impure  desire  and  a  lascivious  look,  and,  finally, 
to  the  deed  that  made  them  the  bond-slaves  of  hell  forever.    Their 
case  is  now  considered  hopeless.  They  are  abhorred  by  themselves 
and  by  others,  have  already  died  a  civil  death,  and  must  soon  go 
down  to  the  grave,  and  then  suffer  eternally  the  tortures  of  the 
worm  that  shall  never  die,  and  of  the  fire  that   shall  never  be 
quenched.     Here  is  the  text  literally  true.  "  When  lust  hath  con- 
ceived, it  bringeth  forth  sin ;  and  sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth 
forth  death." 

V.  Profanity,  too,  has  its  maturity  in  those  unrestrained  blasphemies 
which  have  sometimes  been  uttered  at  the  very  juncture  when  life  was 
going  out.     The  profane  man  does  not  mature  this  vice  in  an  hour. 


INIQUITY    FINISHED.  173 

It  may  be  that  he  was  educated  under  the  roof  of  piety,  where  he 
was  taught  to  fear  an  oath.  And  his  earliest  departures  from  yea 
and  nay  were,  at  the  first,  but  a  single  shade  removed  from  purity 
of  language.  By  slow  and  painful  degrees,  however,  he  learned 
to  utter  the  curse,  then  the  oath.  Here  he  intended  to  stop,  as  he 
had  intended  at  each  preceding  stage  of  his  impious  career.  But 
he  had  now  broken  through  parental  restraint,  and  had  well  nigh 
conquered  the  obstinate  correctness  of  his  own  conscience,  and  it 
became  easy  to  proceed.  It  becomes  his  practice  to  utter  his  pas- 
sions in  an  oath,  and  he  can  at  length  swear  when  not  impassionffl, 
and  the  practice  soon  grows  into  a  habit. 

It  now  becomes  quite  insipid  to  go  in  the  old  dull  track,  and 
he  invents  new  oaths,  till  at  length  the  names  of  God  and  all  his 
sacred  attributes,  ring  upon  every  change  possible,  and,  aided  by 
tone,  and  emphasis,  and  gesture,  constitute  more  than  half  his  im- 
pious vocabulary.  Finally,  he  breaths  pollution  as  soon  as  he 
opens  his  lips.  And  when  he  has  for  a  time  made  man  the  butt  of 
his  blasphemies,  he  begins  to  abuse  directly  his  Maker,  and  his 
Redeemer,  and  Sanctifier.  Now  his  sin  is  finished,  and  in  some 
surprising  hour,  may  meet  the  sudden  arrest  of  death,  with  a  vol- 
ley of  blasphemy,  and  die  with  the  execration  half  finished  upon 
his  lips.  My  readers  may  not  have  witnessed  this  case,  and  would 
to  God  they  may  not,  but  assuredly  the  fact  has  happened,  furnish- 
ing us  a  lucid  comment  upon  the  text,  "  Sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
bringeth  forth  death." 

• 

VI.  So  the  Sabbath-breaker  matures  his  sin  by  degrees.  He  went 
early  with  his  parents  to  the  house  of  God,  and  grew  up  to  man- 
*hood  under  the  droppings  of  the  sanctuary.  But  on  some  occa- 
sion he  was  tempted  to  spend  a  Sabbath  in  the  fields,  or  in  world- 
ly business.  Some  wicked  associate  thus  induced  him  to  break 
in  upon  his  early  habits.  And  it  gave  him,  at  the  first,  pain  of 
conscience.  But  a  second  temptation  and  a  third  soon  prepared 
him  to  do,  without  distress,  what  was  at  the  first  an  outrage  upon 
his  whole  Christian  education.  Soon  he  deserted  the  house  of 
God,  and  soon  neglected  the  Bible,  and  soon  threw  off  his  whole 
religious  deportment.  He  can  now  waste  his  Sabbaths  over  a 
newspaper,  or  on  his  bed,  or  in  a  place  of  rendezvous.  And  he 
entices  others  away  with  him  to  his  guilty  haunts,  and  is  now  quite 
content  to  have  all  his  Sabbaths  pass  without  acquiring  any  know- 
ledge of  God,  of  truth,  or  of  duty.  But  in  the  mean  time  his  pro- 
bation glides  away,  and  he  will  come  to  his  death-bed,  and  his 


174  INIQUITY   FINISHED. 

Sabbaths  be  over,  all  over,  and  no  preparation  made  to  meet  his 
God.  He  would  then  give  a  world  for  a  Sabbath.  His  tortured 
conscience,  unless  disease  or  medicine  should  stupify  him,  will 
rehearse  in  his  hearing  the  history  of  his  mis-spent  Sabbaths,  and 
portray  before  his  astonished  eyes  the  iniquity  of  his  heathenism, 
till  his  dying  chamber  will  become  a  scene  of  horror  like  the  mid- 
night of  Egypt.  What  he  knows  of  truth,  will  but  paint  to  him  in 
the  more  gloomy  colors,  the  sin  of  despising  God's  Sabbaths, 
which  he  might  have  improved  in  becoming  acquainted  with  him- 
self and  with  God.  He  is  haunted  with  the  conviction  that  no 
Sabbath  awaits  him  in  heaven.  His  sin  is  finished,  and  he  must 
die,  ignorant  of  that  gospel  through  which  God  fits  his  people  for 
his  kingdom. 

VII.  So  the  growth  of  infidelity,  may  be  traced  from  its  low  begin- 
nings to  the  same  destructive  maturity.  In  his  youth  the  man  was  a 
speculative  believer,  and  was  satisfied  that  the  Bible  was  the  truth 
of  God.  But  some  shrewd  associate  made  sport  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  put  into  his  hands  at  length  the  "  Jlge  of  Reason"  But  so 
correct  had  been  his  education  that  at  first  he  dared  not  read  it. 
It  lay  by  him  and  he  finally  cast  his  eye  upon  it,  and  it  suite£  the 
temper  of  his'  heart  5  he  perused  it,  and  it  shook  his  faith.  He  yet 
intended  not  to  become  a  disciple  of  that  wretch  whose  principles 
did  not  sustain  himself  in  his  dying  hours.  But  one  scandalous 
volume  referred  him  to  another  and  one  associate  who  had  discard- 
ed the  Bible,  led  him  to  another,  till  at  length  he  was  prepared  to 
yield  his  better  judgment. 

He  went  on  to  prop  the  fabric  of  his  unbelief,  till  consistency  of 
character  drove  him  to  abandon  the  gospel  and  quit  the  sanctuary, 
and  discontinue  his  prayers,  as  all  inconsistent  with  his  system  of 
rationalism.  He  had  now  no  means  of  learning  his  danger,  and 
felt  quite  secure  in  his  iniquities.  He  needs  no  Savior,  and  spurns 
with  contempt  the  overtures  of  mercy.  And  his  sentiments  have 
misled  his  conscience,  till  he  can  sin  with  a  high  hand  and  feel 
little  or  no  compunction.  He  bids  fair  to  die  an  unbeliever,  and 
although  he  may  renounce  his  scheme  in  the  hour  of  death,  it  will 
probably  be  too  late  to  apply  to  his  soul  the  consolations  of  that 
gospel  which  he  has  deliberately  abandoned.  True,  the  preliba- 
tions  of  his  future  destiny  may,  on  his  death-bed,  force  him,  as 
they  have  many  of  the  champions  of  his  creed,  into  a  speculative 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  yet  is  there  little  hope,  that  the  slighted  and 
abused  Redeemer,  will,  at  that  late  hour,  become  his  helper,  and 


INIQUITY   FINISHED.  175 

then  he  is  lost  for  ever.     His  sin  is  finished  and  it  bringeth  forth 
death. 

VIII.  So  we  might  trace  the  sin  of  lying  from  the  first  instance  of 
prevarication  on  to  the  fixed  habit  of  dauntless  and  deliberate  per- 
jury. When  men  at  first  depart  from  the  simplicity  of  truth,  they 
do  not  intend  to  confirm  the  habit,  much  less  to  lie  under  the 
solemnities  of  an  oath.  But  one  departure  from  veracity  begets 
the  necessity  often  of  another,  and  another.  And  one  fortunate 
escape  from  detection,  holds  out  the  promise  of  future  impunity. 
Thus  the  man  whose  lips  had  been  accustomed  to  truth,  becomes 
habituated,  before  he  sees  his  danger,  to  utter  falsehood.  And 
the  case  will  soon  happen  that  he  must  swear  to  what  he  has  stat- 
ed, and  God  is  called  in  to  witness  to  the  truth  of  a  lie.  And  he 
perceives  that  Heaven  does  not  avenge  Ae  deed,  and  ventures  on 
it  again,  and  again,  as  party,  or  passion,  or  interest  dictates.  He 
now  soon  becomes  prepared  for  deliberate  perjury,  and  is,  perhaps, 
detected  and  suffers  the  penalty  of  human  law,  or,  if  otherwise, 
goes  on  till  the  law  of  God  takes  effect,  and  he  is  turned  with  all 
liars  into  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,  which  is 
the  second  death.  Thus  the  sin  is  finished. 

FINALLY.  Let  me  sum  the  whole  up  in  one  case.  These  sins  some- 
times all  meet  in  the  same  man,  and  grow  to  maturity  together.  The 
vices  are  all  twin-sisters,  and  can  flourish  in  the  same  soil,  and  under 
the  same  sunshine.  The  gambler  becomes  profane  and  false,  and 
fraudulent,  and  intemperate,  and  lewd,  breaks  the  Sabbath,  and 
derides  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  Some  of  these  vices  seldom  fail  to 
be  in  the  society  of  all  the  residue.  When  did  you  know  a  pro- 
fane man  who  had  any  conscientious  regard  for  the  truth,  or  ven- 
erated the  Bible  1  Or  when  an  intemperate  man,  or  lewd,  who 
did  not  engraft  these  vices  into  the  same  stock  where  all  the 
others  grew  1  Adopt  one  sin  and  all  the  others  plead  for  their 
own  adoption.  Wrill  the  infidel  judge  it  out  of  character  to  be 
profane  1  Will  the  false  scruple  to  baptize  his  lie  with  an  oath  1 
Will  the  inebriate  be  ashamed  to  be  lewd  1  Will  the  Sabbath- 
breaker  venerate  the  Bible  1  While  one  of  these  sins  is  coming 
to  maturity,  the  others,  like  shoots  by  the  side  of  a  bramble,  will 
spring  up  and  grow,  and  when  matured  may  any  of  them  bring 
death. 

The  fact  is,  to  mature  any  vice  requires  the  abandonment  of 
restraint  and  when  this  is  lost,  any  iniquity  can  vegetate.  The 


176  INIQUITY    FINISHED. 

man  becemes  to  every  good  work  reprobate.  The  understanding 
is  distorted,  the  conscience  seared,  the  heart  rendered  cold,  and 
hard,  and  selfish,  and  the  man  becomes  deaf  to  remonstrance,  and 
is  placed  out  of  the  reach  of  reform.  Now,  many  sins  are  finished 
in  the  same  man,  and  they  inevitably  bring  forth  death. 

REMARKS. 

I.  How  may  we  know  when  sin  has  approached  nigh  to  maturity  1 
No  question  can  be  to  us  all  more  practical  or  important.  We 
may  know  by  various  signs  : 

1.  Maturity  in  vice  stuns  the  sensibility  of  conscience.     When 
men  can  sin  and  not  be  filled  with  distress,  it  argues  that  they 
have  silenced  the  monitor  in  their  bosom.     When  the  gambler 
feels  happy  after  the  garn^,  and  the  drunkard  dreads  not  the  occa- 
sion that  will  tempt  him  to  indulgence,  and  the  profane  fearlessly 
utters  the  oath,  and  the  false  can  be  as  happy,  when  he  has  spoken 
a  lie  as  the  truth,  and  the  fraudulent  feeds  cheerfully,  on  his  ill- 
gotten  wealth,  and  the  Sabbath-breaker  has  no  twinges  of  conscience, 
as  the  hours  of  holy  rest  pass  by  unimproved,  and  the  unchaste 
can  sleep  quietly  in  the  bed  of  guilt,  and  the  infidel  is  sensible  of 
no  inward  testimony  to  the  truth — in  every  such  case  there  is 
reason  to  fear  that  conscience  is  driven  from  her  moorings,  and 
the  storm  is  high,  and  hard  by  is  the  reef  of  death,  where  she  is 
to  be  finally  and  fatally  shipwrecked. 

2.  Maturity  in  vice  progressively  excludes  shame.     When  the  pro- 
fane will  utter  their  coarse  dialect  within  the  hearing  of  the  moral, 
and  when  the  intemperate  do  not  blush  to  be  caught  at  their  cups, 
and  the  liar  is  not  put   out  of  countenance  by  detection,  and  the 
Sabbath-breaker  is  willing  to  be  seen,  wasting  the   hours  of  holy' 
rest,  and  the  fraudulent  can  boast  of  the  advantage  they  have  taken, 
and  the  gambler  is  willing  to  be  caught  at  the  game,  and  the  infidel 
sneers  at  the  gospel,  and  the  licentious  are  proud  of  their  intrigues ; 
then  shame  is  gone,  and  sin  is  finished — a  great  poet  has  justly 
said, — 

"  He  that  blushes  is  not  quite  a  brute." 

And  a  greater,  and  a  better  man  has  inquired,  "  Were  they 
ashamed  when  they  had  committed  abomination  1  nay,  they  were 
not  at  all  ashamed,  neither  could  they  blush ;  therefore  they  shall 
fall  among  them  that  fall ;  in  the  time  that  I  visit  them  they  shall 
be  cast  down,  saith  the  Lord."  Here  is  the  very  case  stated. 
When  men  have  so  far  orogressed  in  vice  that  they  have  ceased 


INIQUITY    FINISHED.  '    177 

to  be  ashamed,  then  the  threatened  judgments  of  God  take  effect, 
and  sin,  being  "  finished,  bringeth  forth  death." 

II.  The  subject  addresses  itself  to  parents.  Our  poor  dying 
children  are  liable  to  be  ensnared  by  these  vices ;  if  we  love  them, 
we  shall  carefully  watch  them. 

1.  We  shall  be  careful  not  to  corrupt  them  ourselves.     We  have 
known  unhappy  parents  who  taught  their  children  to  gamble,  and 
be  false,  and  profane,  and  fraudulent,  and  to  desecrate  the  Sabbath, 
and  to  use  the  cup,  and  reject  the  Bible.     All  this,  perhaps,  they 
did  not  intend  to  do,  and  would  have  been  alarmed,  it  may  be, 
could  they  have  seen  the  end  from  the  beginning.     And  still  the 
restraints  they  withheld,   or  the  passions  and  appetites  they  in- 
dulged, or  the  principles  they  inculcated,  or  the  example  they  set, 
or  the  doctrines  they  taught,  led  their  children  directly  in  the  way 
of  the  destroyer,  and  their  whole  character,  when  sin  is  finished, 
will  be  chargeable  to  their  unhappy  parents. 

2.  If  we  love  our  children  we  shall  be  careful  not  to  permit 
others  to  destroy  them.     Some  parents  suffer  their  offspring  to  be 
corrupted  before  their  very   eyes.     Perhaps   they  receive   some 
outcast  into  their  family,  and  he  becomes  the  tutor  of  their  child- 
ren ere  they  have  suspected  the  danger.     They  wonder  where  and 
when  their  children  learned  to  be  profane,  to  use  the  cup,  to  be 
familiar  with  the  language  of  impurity,  to  break  the   Sabbath,  to 
deal  fraudulently.    Ah  !  they  learned  of  those  who  were  introduced 
as  domestics  in  the  family  circle.     Unless  parents  would  bring 
down  their  own  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave,  let  them  be 
jealous  over  the  moral  character  of  their  servants  and  of  every 
other  inmate  of  their  house. 

And  we  must  be  equally  careful  who  are  their  associates  abroad. 
It  is  inhuman  to  send  them  to  the  school  of  vice.  There  may  be 
youth  near  us  with  whom  they  may  not  safely  mingle.  There  may 
be  families  in  their  very  neighborhood,  with  whom  we  should  be 
afraid  to  have  them  associate.  The  seeds  of  vice  may  be  sown, 
and  the  shoots  not  distinctly  seen  until  we  are  dead,  and  still  they 
may  spring  up,  and  ripen,  and  bear,  by-and-bye,  when  we  are  in 
heaven,  the  fruits  of  death. 

3.  In  view  of  this  subject  be  warned  not  to  let   any  sin  ripen  in 
your  hearts.     Think  not  to  trifle  with  iniquity  and  come  off  with- 
out harm.     If  you  begin  a  wrong  practice,  always  remember  that 
it  may  ripen  into  an  obstinate  and  deadly  habit.     The  rock  which 
you  roll  from  the  summit  of  a  mountain  may  move  slow  at  the 

23 


178  INIQUITY   FINISHED. 

first,  and  require  great  effort  to  start  it,  but  it  may  acquire  mo- 
mentum before  you  are  aware,  and  may  plough  itself  a  path  to  the 
valley  through  the  mightiest  barriers  that  a  creating  God  has  in- 
terposed in  its  course.  The  only  safe  doctrine  is  that  inspired 
maxim,  "  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not.''''  Say  not,  I  have  learned 
the  rules  of  the  game,  but  intend  not  to  be  a  gambler.  Say  not,  I 
sometimes  indulge  myself  in  the  cup,  but  I  do  not  intend  to  be  a 
drunkard.  Say  not,  I  know  I  am  sometimes  covetous,  but  do  not 
intend  to  be  a  thief  or  a  robber.  Say  not,  I  sometimes  indulge  my 
lewd  affections,  but  shall  never  entrust  myself  in  the  house  of  in- 
famy. Say  not,  I  sometimes  allow  myself  in  profanity,  but  can 
never  be  tempted  to  blasphemy.  Say  not,  I  have  sometimes  pro- 
faned the  Sabbath,  but  I  shall  proceed  no  farther,  shall  never  quit 
the  sanctuary,  or  cease  to  regard  that  day  as  holy.  Say  not,  I 
sometimes  ply  the  unbeliever's  objections  to  the  Bible,  but  shall 
never  become  an  infidel.  Say  not,  I  have  sometimes  prevaricated, 
but  shall  never  become  perjured.  Oh,  say  not,  I  mean  to  indulge 
my  sins  at  present,  but  do  not  mean  to  become  an  abandoned  trans- 
gressor. None  can  predict  what  you  may  not  become,  if  you  set 
out  in  any  course  of  transgression.  "  The  heart  is  deceitful  above 
all  things,"  and  it  may  happen  that  you  may  feel  quite  safe  at  the 
very  juncture  when  some  darling  iniquity  has  gained  the  ascend- 
ancy over  you,  and  your  steps  are  just  about  to  slip.  May  a  mer- 
ciful God  save  you. 


SERMON   XIII 
OBEDIENCE  THE  PRACTICAL  TEST  OF  AFFECTION. 

MALACHI    1.    6. 

A  son  honoreth  his  father,  and  a  servant  his  master  :  if  then  I  be  a  Father,  where  is  mine 
honor  ?    And  if  I  be  a  Master,  where  is  my  fear  ? 

THIS  address  was  made  to  the  priests  of  the  Lord,  at  a  very  cor- 
rupt age  of  the  Jewish  church  ;  and  applies  not  only  to  them,  but 
to  the  whole  family  of  Israel.  There  was  corruption  not  merely 
in  the  priesthood :  the  whole  church  was  exceedingly  polluted. 
Every  precept  of  the  law  was  violated,  and  every  rite  of  the  sanc- 
tuary perverted.  Hence  most  of  the  addresses  made  to  them  ap- 
ply, not  to  believers,  but  to  impenitent  men,  and  that  in  all  ages, 
and  in  all  countries.  "  Oh,  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself," 
would  seem  a  strange  address  to  true  believers  ;  but  is  exactly 
suited  to  a  community  of  hypocrites,  whose  profession  of  godliness 
embraced  all  the  holiness  they  aimed  to  acquire. 

It  will  then  be  no  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  text,  if  we  apply 
it  to  an  impenitent  world,  embracing  those  who  have  no  show  of 
godliness,  as  well  as  the  whole  family  of  false  professors. 

We  find  in  the  lips  of  many  who  make  no  pretensions  to  a 
change  of  heart,  high  professions  of  respect  for  the  character  and 
government  of  God.  They  claim  him  as  their  Father,  and  would 
have  us  believe  that  they  respect  and  obey  his  laws.  It  will  be 
my  object  in  this  discourse  to  inquire,  WHETHER  MEN  OF  THIS  CHA- 
RACTER YIELD  HIM  THAT  FILIAL  ESTEEM,  OR  THAT  DUTIFUL  SUBJECTION, 
WHICH  ARE  DUE  TO  A  FATHER  AND  A  MASTER.  That  the  Subject,  how- 

ever,  may  impress  our  minds  the  more  tenderly,  let  us, 

I.  Contemplate  the  government  of  God,  and  see  if  we  can  discover 
him  dealing  with  all  his  rational  creatures  as  a  Father  and  a  Master. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  as  a  Father  and  a  Master  he  protects  them. 
This  the  son  and  the  servant  expect.  God  keeps  his  eye  upon  all 
his  intelligent  creatures,  and  puts  underneath  them  his  arm  of 
mercy.  Not  an  hour  would  life  be  sustained,  did  not  Jehovah 
keep  in  tune  this  wondrous  frame ;  did  he  not  heave  the  lungs, 


180  OBEDIENCE    THE    PRACTICAL    TEST    OF    AFFECTION. 

move  the  heart,  and  brace  every  member  and  every  nerve.  Dan- 
gers stand  thick  around  us,  wait  at  every  corner  do  destroy  us, 
but  are  warded  off  by  that  unseen  Intelligence,  "  in  whom  we  live, 
and  move,  and  have  our  being."  The  unbeliever  as  well  as  the 
believer,  holds  his  life,  his  reason,  his  health,  and  all  his  comforts 
as  a  loan  of  Heaven.  While  he  neglects  to  pray,  and  while  every 
mercy  is  forgotten  in  unthankfulness ;  while  he  even  sets  his 
mouth  against  the  heavens,  and  defies  the  power  that  protects  him ; 
still,  with  paternal  vigilance,  God  extends  to  him  his  protecting 
mercy.  He  lies  down  and  sleeps,  and  wakes,  because  the  Lord 
makes  him  to  dwell  safely. 

2.  As  a  Father  and  a  Master  he,  provides  for  all  his  creatures. 
That  bread  which  men  feed  upon,  as  the  fruit  of  their  own  indus- 
try, and  for  which  they  thank  themselves,  and  every  garment  that 
covers  them,  and  the  house  that   shelters  them,   are  the   gifts  of 
God.     No  man  could  make  his  seed  vegetate,  or  render  his  fields 
fertile,   or  ensure  success  in  trade,  independently   of  his  Maker. 
The  showers  and  the  dews,  the  genial  sun,  and  the  soft  breezes  of 
heaven  are  entirely  under  divine  control,  and  unite  their  influence 
to  feed,  and  clothe,  and  warm,  and  give   health  and  vigor  to  an 
apostate  world.     Thus,  as  a  Father  and  a  Master,  he  makes  timely 
and  kind  provision  for  all  his  creatures. 

3.  As  a  Father  and  a  Master  he  makes  us  know  his  will.     We 
have  some  lessons  of  instruction  from  the  broad  sheet  of  nature  ; 
but  in  his  word  he  has  opened  all  his  heart ;  has  made  every  duty 
plain,  and  placed  it  in  the  power  of  every  son  and   servant  of  his 
to  do  his  pleasure.     He  has  plainly  revealed  himself  and   his  will 
concerning  us.     He  has  made  us  acquainted  with  his  Son  and  his 
kingdom.     If  disposed  to  obedience,  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to 
obey.     And  that  his  family  of  intelligences  might  have  no  excuse 
from  marching  up  promptly  to  their  duty,  he  has  caused  his  word 
to  be  proclaimed  in  a  preached  gospel.     Thus  we  have  line  upon 
line,  and  precept  upon  precept.     All  this  we  expect  from  a  father 
and  a  master. 

4.  I  add,  he  has  made  our  duties  light.     The  service  he  requires 
is  pleasant  and  easy.     He  demands  what  is  to  our  own  interest, 
and  prohibits  what  would  ruin  us.     His  law,  in  all  its  rigor,   is  a 
most  kind  and  benevolent  institution,  and  has  conferred  upon  his 
family  the  richest  comforts  and  the  greatest  obligations.     Next  to 
the  gospel,  the  law  of  God  is  the  richest  bequest  of  Heaven  to  our 
world  ;  and  they  were  both  issued  with  the  same  design — to  ren- 
der intelligent  beings  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  Maker. 


OBEDIENCE  THE  PRACTICAL  TEST  OF  AFFECTION.        181 

Finally,  if  we  obey  him,  he  smiles  upon  us,  and  provides  for  our 
future  happiness  as  does  a  father  and  a  master.  The  law  itself, 
which  he  had  a  right  to  issue  without  a  promise  of  reward,  implies 
that  the  dutiful  shall  be  happy.  He  approves  of  every  act  of  duty, 
and  will  notice  it  with  his  favor  even  if  we  give  to  the  thirsty  a 
cup  of  cold  water  from  love  to  him.  When  we  have  sinned,  and 
are  desirous  to  return  to  duty,  he  accepts  our  repentance,  forgives 
us,  and  loves  us.  Thus  he  acts  the  part  of  a  kind  Father  and  an 
indulgent  Master  toward  all  his  intelligent  creation.  And  many 
whose  hearts  have  never  been  won  to  love  and  duty,  are  still  sen- 
sible that  God  is  kind,  and  deserves  their  warmest  esteem  and 
faithful  service.  But  after  all  this  we  hear  Him  say,  "  If  then  I 
be  a  Father,  where  is  mine  honor  ?" 

II.  Let  us  inquire  how  a  kind  and  dutiful  son  or  servant  will  treat 
a  father  or  a  master. 

I  yoke  the  two  together,  because  if  faithful  and  dutiful,  they  will 
exhibit  in  these  relationships  very  much  the  same  deportment. 

In  the  first  place,  the  son  loves  his  father,  and  the  good  servant 
his  master.  The  attachment  is  very  strong ;  and,  perhaps,  often 
as  strong  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  You  have  seen  servants 
who  would  die  to  protect  their  master  j  and  the  attachment  of  a 
good  son  to  his  father  none  will  question.  Let  us  then  inquire 
whether  that  class  of  men  who  acknowledge  that  they  have  not 
been  regenerated,  but  who  wish  to  be  considered  very  friendly  to 
their  Maker,  do  really  feel  any  love  to  his-  character.  While 
they  are  made  the  recipients  of  his  bounty,  they  may  feel  glad, 
and  may  mistake  gladness  for  gratitude.  Or  viewing  his  favors 
as  an  evidence  of  his  love  to  them,  they  may  feel  that  complacen- 
cy in  themselves  which  may  seem  like  affection  for  him.  Or 
making  some  essential  mistake  in  their  views  of  his  character, 
they  may  love  the  image  they  have  set  up,  and  which  they  call 
Jehovah.  Or  being  grossly  ignorant  of  his  character,  they  may 
never  feel  their  hearts  drawn  out  toward  him,  in  any  very  strong 
affection  or  passion,  and  so  may  not  know  that  they  do  not  love 
him.  Or  these  things  may  all  combine  to  deceive  and  ruin  them. 

If  we  have  any  love  to  God  we  must  love  his  whole  character, 
and  must  learn  his  character  from  the  Bible.  We  must  not  only 
love  the  Being  who  waters  our  fields,  and  makes  the  earth  fruitful, 
and  the  air  salubrious  ;  who  supplies  us  with  health  and  plenty ; 
but  the  Being,  (for  he  is  the  same,)  who  sends  drought,  and  fa- 
mine, and  pestilence ;  who  cuts  off  our  comforts,  and  sends  dis- 


182  OBEDIENCE    THE    PRACTICAL    TEST    OF    AFFECTION.     ' 

ease,  and  death,  and  darkness,  and  sorrow  into  our  habitations. 
We  must  not  only  love  him,  who  created  us,  who  protects  us,  who 
feeds  us,  who  enlightens  us,  and  who  offers  us  salvation ;  but  him 
who  gave  us  his  law,  gave  that  law  its  sanctions,  and  annexes  to  a 
rejection  of  the  gospel  the  sure  pledge  of  endless  misery.  We 
must  not  only  love  the  Being  who  has  watched  the  world  with 
paternal  solicitude,  and  has  given  to  the  different  nations  their 
prosperity  and  their  honors  ;  but  him,  (for  he  is  the  same  God,) 
who  blotted  out  the  old  world,  who  burned  the  cities  of  the  plain, 
who  has  plagued  the  kingdoms  of  men  with  revolutions,  earth- 
quakes, storms,  and  Avars.  We  must  not  only  love  him  who  has 
built  a  heaven  for  redeemed  sinners,  but  him  who  has  digged  a 
bottomless  pit,  and  kindled  a  quenchless  fire  for  the  finally  impeni- 
tent. We  cannot  love  the  Author  of  all  good,  and  hate  him  as  the 
Author  of  what  we  call  evil.  There  is  but  one  God,  and  he  as- 
sures us  that  he  makes  light,  and  creates  darkness.  We  must  vest 
him  with  all  his  attributes,  and  love  him  as  a  whole  Deity,  or  he 
will  spurn  our  affection,  and  count  us  his  enemies.  He  is  as  wor- 
thy of  esteem  in  the  exercise  of  holiness,  justice,  truth,  and  ven- 
geance, as  when  he  displays  his  infinite  goodness  and  mercy.  His 
threatenings  do  him  as  much  honor  as  his  promises.  His  plagues 
are  as  necessary  as  his  blessings,  his  lightnings  as  his  rains,  his 
law  as  his  gospel,  his  prison  as  his  palace.  His  rod  and  his  bread 
are  both  blessings  to  his  children  and  his  servants. 

Now  the  question  is,  do  that  class  of  men  who  speak  so  highly 
of  their  Maker,  and  who  would  have  us  believe  that  they  are  so 
grateful  for  his  benefits,  and  have  pleasure  in  contemplating  his 
character,  but  who  have  no  pretensions  to  having  passed  the  new 
birth — do  they  love  the  whole  of  the  Divine  character  ?.  Have 
they  selected  the  attributes  of  their  supreme  Deity  from  the  Bible, 
and  do  they  disrobe  him  of  no  single  perfection  1  Is  the  view  the 
Bible  gives  of  Jehovah  pleasant  to  them  in  all  its  parts  1  Would 
they  not  alter  one  single  trait  if  they  might  1  Have  they  no  ex- 
ceptions to  make  when  they  think  of  him,  and  speak  of  him,  and 
pray  to  him  1  And  when  they  think  of  going  to  be  in  his  presence 
for  ever,  is  his  character  exactly  such  as  they  would  love  to  con- 
template and  to  dwell  with  1 

I  know  that  some  of  these  questions,  at  times,  are  trying  even 
to  the  believer ;  but  he  does  hope,  that  he  approves  of  every  at- 
tribute in  the  character  of  Jehovah.  But  do  not  that  class  of  men, 
to  whom  this  sermon  is  principally  addressed,  manifest,  that  they 
are  pleased  with  only  apart  of  the  Divine  character  ?  Hence  ho\v 


OBEDIENCE    THE    PRACTICAL    TEST    OF    AFFECTION.  183 

frequently  will  they  deny  such  of  the  doctrines  as  clash  with  their' 
views  of  God.  Total  depravity  is  viewed  as  rendering  themselves 
too  deformed  for  him  to  love  till  they  are  radically  changed.  The 
necessity  of  such  a  change  begets  a  doubt  whether  they  are  on 
the  way  to  heaven.  The  deity  of  Christ  argues,  that  men  are  in 
a  state  of  fearful  ruin  from  which  none  but  an  almighty  Redeemer 
can  rescue  them.  The  necessity  of  a  Divine  influence  to  change 
the  heart,  cuts  off  the  hope  which  they  build  on  their  own  good 
works,  as  qualifying  them  for  heaven.  Any  Divine  purpose  re- 
specting the  heirs  of  salvation,  places  their  destiny  in  the  hands  of 
God  ;  where  they  are  afraid  to  trust  it.  His  sovereignty  in  rege- 
nerating whom  he  will,  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  their  purposes  of 
future  repentance  will  be  executed.  Threatenings  of  everlasting 
misery  to  the  finally  impenitent,  exhibit  God  as  too  inflexibly  holy 
to  be  their  Jehovah. 

Do  they  not  dread  these  doctrines  because  they  undermine  their 
high  opinion  of  themselves,  and  in  their  view  mar  the  character 
of  God'?  If  they  loved  him,  they  would  have  confidence  in  him; 
they  would  believe  what  ha  says,  would  dare  to  be  in  his  hands, 
would  have  no  fear  of  his  decrees,  nor  be  apprehensive  of  too 
great  severity  in  his  justice. 

The  child,  when  he  is  received  into  the  arms  of  his  father,  asks 
from  him  no  promise  that  he  will  not  cast  him  into  the  fire  or  the 
flood.  If  he  knows  that  his  father  has  written  his  last  testament, 
he  has  no  fear  that  he  is  disinherited :  and  the  faithful  servant  has 
the  same  confidence. 

2.  The  good  child  loves  the  society  of  his  father,  and  the  faithful 
servant  loves  to  be  with  his  master.  Every  one  has  observed  that 
love  will  thus  operate.  If  then  God  be  a  Father,  where  is  his  hon- 
or '?  Do  men  in  their  native  state  love  to  be  with  God  1  The  be- 
liever will  know  what  I  mean  by  being  with  God.  There  is  a  sense 
in  which  God  is  every  where  ;  but  a  special  sense  in  which  he  is 
present  with  his  people.  Communion  with  him  is  as  much  a  reali- 
ty as  communion  with  a  friend.  In  a  friend  we  do  not  see  that 
spirit  with  which  we  hold  fellowship.  When  it  has  fled,  still  all 
that  we  saw  is  present,  but  communion  is  at  an  end.  God's  people 
have  endearing  fellowship  with  him,  and  there  is  no  blessing  which 
they  prize  so  highly.  In  the  family,  in  the  closet,  in  the  sanctuary, 
and  in  the  field,  they  mingle  their  souls  with  the  Great  Spirit,  and 
are  happy.  The  ordinances  are  appointed  for  this  purpose.  One 
day  spent  in  his  courts  is  better  than  a  thousand  elsewhere. 

But  the  men  we  have  described — do  they  understand  the  na- 


184        OBEDIENCE  THE  PRACTICAL  TEST  OF  AFFECTION. 

ture,  and  estimate  the  privilege  of  this  fellowship  1  They 
think  they  love  their  Maker,  and  are  displeased  if  we  question 
their  piety ;  but  do  they  seek  communion  with  him  1  Are  they 
men  of  prayer,  and  accustomed  to  the  work  of  praise  1  Do  they 
love  retirement  and  meditation  1  Do  they  pore  much  over  the 
page  of  inspiration,  and  do  they  cultivate  a  spirit  of  devotion  1 
All  this  is  to  be  expected  of  one  who  loves  to  be  with  God.  A 
few  transient  thoughts  of  him  as  a  Benefactor  are  not  a  sufficient 
testimony  of  supreme' attachment.  God  commands  more  than 
this,  and  if  we  are  his  children  or  his  servants,  we  shall  desire 
more.  Else  what  is  meant  when  we  are  commanded  to  "pray 
without  ceasing  1"  And  what  does  David  mean  when  he  says, 
"  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water-brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul 
after  thee,  O  God  V  Or  Job,  when  he  says,  "  O  that  I  knew  where 
I  might  find  him ;  that  I  might  come  even  to  his  seat  V  Now  a 
religion  that  produces  none  of  all  this — that  never  thirsts  after 
God,  nor  grieves  on  account  of  his  absence — is  to  be  suspected  as 
radically  deficient.  It  may  serve  to  deceive,  but  will  never  save. 
3.  A  good  son  and  a  faithful  servant  will  be  cheerfully  obedient. 
A  dutiful  temper  is  indispensable  in  either  of  these  stations.  The 
son  who  does  not  cheerfully  receive  and  execute  the  wishes  of  his 
father  is  unworthy  of  the  name,  and  deserves  to  be  disinherited. 
And  the  servant  who  does  not  exhibit  the  same  dutiful  temper  is  a 
mere  slave.  Let  us  then  apply  this  test  to  that  class  of  men  who 
are  addressed  in  the  text.  Is  it  their  joy  to  obey  the  Lord  ?  They 
will  then  attend  well  to  his  commands.  They  will  read  and  medi- 
tate upon  his  law,  and  will  make  his  word  the  man  of  their  coun- 
sel, and  will  study  to  obey.  Is  this  the  fact  1  Are  they  employed 
in  studying  ways  and  means  to  glorify  God,  and  make  mankind 
happy  1  Do  they  discharge  with  conscientious  fidelity  all  the  du- 
ties of  their  respective  offices  and  relations  1  Are  they  among  the 
first  to  feed  the  poor,  instruct  the  ignorant,  reform  the  vicious  ^ 
What  they  would  that  others  should  do  ,to  them,  do  they  make 
this  the  rule  of  their  own  conduct  ?  And  are  they  uniform  in 
their  regard  to  duty  1  Do  they  yield  God  the  service  he  requires, 
and  exhibit  that  respect  to  his  name,  his  .word,  his  worship,  and 
his  Son,  which  he  enjoins  1  Or,  to  express  the  whole  in  a  few 
words,  have  they  a  tender  conscience,  which  fears  to  do  wrong, 
fears  to  neglect  a  duty,  fears  to  violate  an  obligation,  dreads  the 
least  deviation  from  the  most  perfect  rectitude  1  Such  a  con- 
science is,  of  all  others,  the  most  decisive  test  of  a  holy  mind. 
"  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments."  "  By  this  shall  all 


OBEDIENCE    THE    PRACTICAL    TEST    OF    AFFECTION.  185 

men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  com- 
mand you."  We  may  then  safely  rest  the  matter  here ;  if  men 
conscientiously  regard  all  that  God  has  spoken  as  immediately 
binding  upon  their  consciences  and  their  conduct, — believe  them 
pious  ;  but  if  they  say  but  little,  and  care  but  little  about  duty,  we 
must  retain  all  our  fears. 

4.  The  son  and  the  servant  will  each  be  attached  to  his  father's 
or  his  master's  family.     If  a  child  or  a   servant  be   unhappy  at 
home,  it  is  an  omen  of  evil,  an  evidence   of  some  unhappy  aliena- 
tion of  affection.     If  we  apply  this  test  to  the  characters  addressed 
in  the  text,  what  is  the  result  1     Do  they  attach  themselves  to  the 
family  of  Christ  1     Do  they  love  his  disciples,  choose  them  as  their 
inmates,  and  hold  sweet  counsel  with  them,  and  wish  their  society 
for  ever  1     And  is  their  attachment  stronger  to  those  who  are  emi- 
nently holy  than  to  others  1  If  we  love  God,  we  shall  love  those  most 
who  wear  most  prominently  the  marks  of  his  image.   With  them  we 
shall  wish  to  be  identified  in  a  compact,  strong  and  eternal.  Hence 
to  hope  that  we  love  the  Kedeemer,  while  we  stand  aloof  from  his 
family,  is  absurd.     "  By  this  shall  men  know  that  ye  are   my  dis- 
ciples, if  ye  have  love   one  to  another."     Hence,  generally,  we 
shall   find  the  people   of  God  in  a  cluster.     We  may  find  a  few 
strayed  from  the  family,  but  we  shall  find  them  uneasy  and  unhap- 
py till  they  come  and  take  their  place  in  his  house. 

5.  The  servant  and  the  son  are  very  jealous  of  the  honor  of  their 
father  or  their  master.     They  will  not  hear  him  reproached;  they 
separate  themselves  from  his  enemies,  and  from  the  place  where 
he  is  not  honored.     And  all  this  God  expects  from  those  who  ac- 
knowledge him  as  their  Father  or  their  Master.     But  do  we   dis- 
cover this  delicacy  of  feeling  in  that   class  of  men  who  would  be 
esteemed  religious,  but   who  have  no  pretensions  to  a  change  of 
heart  1     Are  they  grieved  to  hear  the  name,  and  attributes,  and 
works  of  the  Lord  spoken  lightly  of?     Do  they  retire  from  the 
sound  of  profaneness,  and  feel  themselves  abused,  if  men  in  their 
presence  will  not  reverence  Jehovah  1     It  must  be  proper  to  bring 
every  man's  religion  to  this  test.     You  would  esteem  no  man  your 
friend  who  could  stay,  and  be  content,  where  he  heard  you  abused. 
Mere  silence  in  him,  while  others  abused  you,  would  evince  that 
his  friendship  was  deceitful.     Now  God  has  .assured  us  that  "he 
is  a  jealous  God  V'  Of  course  he  will  watch  the  smallest  deviations 
from  propriety  in  those  who  would  be  thought  to  love  him.     The 
man  who  would  smile  at  an  oath,   or  carry   on  conversation  with 
one  who  is  profane,  and  show  no  disapprobation,  will  find  it  difficult 

24 


186  OBEDIENCE   THE    PRACTICAL    TEST    OF    AFFECTION. 

to  prove  that  he  is  grieved  when  God  is  dishonored,  and  will  for- 
feit his  claim  to  piety.  One  has  not  a  keener  sense  of  the  touch 
of  fire  than  of  any  contact  with  profaneness,  after  he  has  been 
sanctified  by  the  grace  of  God'. 

FINALLY — The  kind  son  and  the  dutiful  servant  will  wish  to  have 
others  acquainted  with  their  father  and  their  master.  Their  own 
attachment  is  so  strong,  that  they  conceive  nothing  more  to  be 
necessary,  than  that  his  character  should  be  known,  in  order  to 
his  being  loved  and  respected.  Apply  this  test,  if  you  please,  to 
that  classs  of  men  who  have  no  pretensions  to  having  been  re- 
generated, but  who  still  insist  upon  it  that  they  love  God  and  are 
friendly  to  his  government  and  kingdom.  Do  they  wish  to  ex- 
tend the  knowledge  of  God  to  others  ?.  Are  they  grieved  that  so 
small  a  portion  of  the  human  family  have  the  sacred  volume,  and 
that  those  who  have  it  know  so  little  of  its  contents  1  Do  we  find 
them  among  the  first  to  propagate  the  gospel  1  Are  they  deeply 
interested  in  the  great  work  that  is  at  present  going  on  the  Chris- 
tian world  1  Do  they  rejoice  at  every  new  translation  of  the 
scriptures  I  And  are  they  ready  to  contribute  of  their  wealth  to 
propagate  the  truth  1  All  this  must  follow  a  strong  attachment  to 
God.  And  if  things  be  otherwise  with  those  who  hope  that  they 
love  him,  there  is  somewhere  a  radical  mistake.  If  men  love  the 
God  of  the  Bible,  they  will  wish  others  to  have  the  Bible  that  they 
may  know  and  love  the  same  God.  If  they  doubt  the  truth  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  are  attached  merely  to  some  being  whom  they 
style  the  God  of  nature,  then  indeed  they  may  feel  indifferent 
whether  men  have  any  other  than  the  book  of  nature.  But  this  is 
deism  precisely,  and  men  would  be  ashamed,  in  the  present  day,  to 
advocate  a  system  that  is  becoming  obsolete.  In  fact,  there  is  no 
God  of  nature,  but  the  God  of  the  Bible.  He  who  built  the  hills 
and  built  the  sun,  inspired  the  book  of  grace,  and  is  the  only  God 
who  can  save  in  the  hour  of  distress.  Why  should  we  deceive 
ourselves  with  a  scheme  which  is  rotten,  or  be  content  that  others 
should  trust  their  souls  to  some  Jupiter  or  Moloch,  that  never  had 
any  existence  but  in  the  imagination  of  such  as  did  not  like  to  re- 
tain God  in  their  knowledge  1 

My  dear  readers,  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  (and  the 
sooner  the  better)  that  there  is  no  religion  without  a  change  of 
heart.  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God."  We  must  have  that  same  religion  which  has  brought 
others  to  their  knees,  and  borne  them  to  the  place  of  prayer,  and 


OBEDIENCE    THE    PRACTICAL    T-EST    OF    AFFECTION.  187 

and  cut  them  off  from  the  men  of  the  world,  and  rendered  them 
men  of  faith  and  of  devotion,  or  we  must  die  without  any,  and 
perish  in  our  delusions.  Religion  cannot  be  shaped  to  please  a 
carnal  mind — cannot  be  brought  down  to  the  frigid  taste  of  un- 
sanctified  men.  It  has  remained  the  same  in  all  .ages,  and  will 
continue  to  demand  a  temper  which  unsanctified  men  do  not  feel, 
and  a  conduct  which  they  do  not  exhibit. 

We  are  the  more  anxious  to  do  good  to  that  class  of  men  who 
have  been  brought  into  view,  because  we  see  many  excellences  in 
their  character.  They  are  neither  intemperate,  profane,  nor  false  ; 
they  are  civil,  and  decent,  and  kind,  and  hospitable  ;  they  are  often 
public-spirited.  Hence  true  religion  would  place  them  among  the 
first  on  the  list  of  useful  men.  We  grieve  to  see  them  lack  this 
one  thing  needful,  because  it  prevents  their  usefulness,  and  mars 
their  happiness. 

But  we  are  anxious  for  another  reason,  which  must  not  be  con- 
cealed. We  think  they  are  entirely  mistaken  in  their  hopes  of 
future  happiness.  We  fear  their  death-bed  will  be  a  scene  of 
stupidity  or  of  horror.  We  apprehend,  (and  if  we  are  deceived 
still  we  are  honest,)  that  they  are  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
lost  for  ever.  Their  religion  has  too  little  to  do  with  a  Savior : 
it  nourishes  too  high  an  opinion  of  works ;  it  is  too  frigid,  too 
thoughtless,  too  prayerless  ;  it  is  too  much  afraid  of  the  cross ;  is 
not  sufficiently  humble,  watchful,  circumspect,  heavenly-minded. 
We  fear  it  is  not  the  religion  of  the  gospel,  and  will  avail  them 
nothing  in  the  last  day.  We  think  it  important  that  they  examine 
their  hopes,  before  it  be  too  late  ;  and  if  they  find  that  they  have 
not  a  religion  which  will  stand  the  test  of  the  last  day,  they  should 
bow  immediately  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Why  should  men  in- 
trench themselves  in  a  refuge  of  lies,  to  be  demolished  by  the  hail 
of  the  last  day,  and  leave  them  unsheltered  in  the  midst  of  that 
fearful  storm. 

If  God  be  a  Father,  honor  him.  Devote  your  life  to  him,  and 
yield  him  your  richest,  best  affections.  Be  ashamed  of  no  duty 
which  he  requires  ;  shrink  from  no  sacrifice  he  demands  ;  and  let 
the  world  know  that  you  are  not  ashamed  of  your  Father. 

If  he  be  a  Master,  honor  him.  Make  his  law  your  study,  and 
consider  his  service  your  freedom.  Then  you  will  at  last  hear 
him  say  to  you,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  thou  hast 
been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  It  will  then  be  your 
privilege  and  your  honor  to  serve  him  in  some  more  elevated 
sphere  of  usefulness  for  ever. 


SERMON  XIV. 
THE  CHRISTIAN'S  SHEET  ANCHOR. 

PSALM    CXIX.    116. 

Uphold  me  according  unto  thy  word,  that  I  may  live  ;  and  let  me  not  be  ashamed  of  my  hope. 

FEW  words  in  the  English  language  are  used  more  loosely  than 
the  word  hope.  If  one  feels  desirous  that  God  may  hereafter  re- 
new him,  he  assures  us  that  he  is  not  without  hope  ;  if  he  expects 
to  be  saved  without  conversion,  he  hopes  j  and  if  he  presumes 
without  any  evidence  that  he  is  now  a  child  of  God,  he  possesses  a 
hope.  None  of  these  examples  gives  us  the  proper  use  of  the 
word.  Hope  always  fixes  on  a  future  good,  and  rests  on  present 
evidence.  David  anticipated  future  and  eternal  blessedness  in  the 
presence  of  his  Lord,  and  he  had  present  evidence  for  believing 
that  he  should  enjoy  this  future  good.  But  he  was  still  a  sinful 
man,  for  there  is  no  man  that  liveth  and  sinneth  not.  His  repeated 
transgressions  interrupted  his  hope.  If  he  should  at  last  fail  of 
the  expected  glory  he  knew  it  would  expose  him  to  shame  and 
contempt  in  the  view  of  all  those  who  knew  of  his  former  expecta- 
tions. He  professed  to  love  the  Lord — had  often  expressed  his 
confidence  in  his  covenant  faithfulness,  and  had  been  pronounced 
to  be  the  man  after  God's  own  heart.  And  after  all  this,  to  fail  of 
heaven,  and  find  himself  associated  with  God's  enemies,  would  be 
dreadful  beyond  the  power  of  description  or  conception. 

Hence  he  prays,  "  Uphold  me  according  unto  thy  word,  that  I 
may  live."  He  was  confident  that  the  true  believer  would  persevere. 
God  had  given  his  word  that  he  would  uphold  his  people,  and 
David  prays  that  God  would  do  as  he  had  promised.  He  believed, 
too,  that  the  spiritual  life  of  the  saint  was  in  the  hands  of  God. 
The  expectation  that  I  may  live  is  founded  on  the  calculation  that 
God  will  uphold  me  according  unto  his  word.  That  holy  man 
had  no  confidence  in  his  own  strength.  God  must  keep  him,  or 
he  should  at  last  be  ashamed  of  his  hope.  Brethren,  the  same 
apprehensions,  and  the  same  prayer,  will  become  us  all. 


ANCHOR.  189 

To  understand  the  foundation,  the  nature,  and  the  operations  of 
that  hope  of  which  we  shall  not  at  last  be  ashamed,  is  a  high  and 
valuable  attainment.  To  designate  such  a  hope  will  be  my  present 
object. 

I.  That  we  may  not  at  last  be  ashamed  of  our  hope,  it  must  ori- 
ginate in  a  change  of  the  temper  of  the  heart.  The  hopes  of  many 
have  a  far  different  origin.  Some  presume  that  they  are  fair  can- 
didates for  heaven,  because  they  have  been  kept  from  the  pollutions 
into  which  many  others  have  plunged.  Their  parents  were  more 
watchful,  and  they  were  placed  in  different  circumstances  from 
other  youth,  and  grew  to  manhood  uncontaminated  by  the  vices  of 
the  age.  And  they  presume  that  their  exemption  from  vice  is  the 
result  of  religion.  Like  the  young  man  in  the  gospel  they  think 
themselves  fair  candidates  for  heaven,  and  very  deserving  of  uni- 
versal esteem,  because  they  have  been  kept  from  the  grosser 
transgressions  of  the  divine  law,  ascribing  to  divine  grace  what  is 
the  effect  of  mere  restraints. 

Others  have  confidence  in  their  good  estate,  because  in  some 
period  of  seriousness  they  had  exercises  resembling  those  of  which 
others,  now  believers,  were  the  subjects.  They  saw  themselves 
to  be  in  danger,  had  some  compunctions  of  conscience,  felt  great 
distress  and  at  length  obtained  relief.  Immediately  they  presumed 
that  they  were  new  creatures,  and  were  confirmed  in  the  strong 
belief  that  they  should  see  the  kingdom  of  God ;  and  upon  this 
hope  they  have  lived  ever  since. 

Others  have  been  at  some  period  of  their  life  the  subjects  of  a 
partial  reformation.  They  have  broken  off  from  some  grosser 
crimes,  are  become  more  civil  and  decent,  and  although  they  can 
relate  no  exercises  resembling  the  operations  of  grace,  yet  ven- 
ture to  hope  that  there  has  been  a  secret,  silent  operation  upon 
their  hearts.  Of  their  religion  little  more  can  be  said  than  that 
"  the  unclean  spirit  has  gone  out." 

Some  build  their  hope  on  an  opinion  which  others  have  incau- 
tiously expressed  with  regard  to  them.  Some  one,  perhaps  a  per- 
son not  qualified  to  judge,  has  expressed  the  conviction  that  they 
were  believers,  they  grasped  at  the  opinion  expressed,  and  believ- 
ed it  true,  and  rest  their  souls  on  this  sandy  foundation. 

Others  hope  for  salvation  because  they  have  been  admitted  to 
the  communion.  In  an  evil  hour  the  doors  of  the  church  were 
thrown  open  so  wide,  that  they,  with  all  their  impenitence  and  un- 
belief, found  admittance.  They  are  now  treated  as  Christians,  and 


190  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  SHEET  ANCHOR. 

addressed  as  such,  and  having  committed  no  overt  act  sufficient  to 
expel  them  from  the  communion,  the  delusion  becomes  every  day 
stronger  and  stronger.  No  one  would  suspect  them  of  piety  were 
they  not  seen  at  the  Lord's  table,  and  but  for  this  fact  they  would 
entertain  no  hope  of  admittance  into  heaven.  Forgetting  that 
many  will  at  last  cry,  and  be  rejected,  "  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not 
eaten  and  drunk  in  thy  presence,"  they  fold  their  arms  confident 
that  heaven  is  theirs  for  ever. 

Others  have  hoped  because  of  some  dream  or  vision  in  which 
Jesus  opened  his  arms,  or  heaven  its  portals  to  their  reception.  A 
voice  seemed  to  proclaim,  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee,"  or  a  text 
of  Scripture  providentially  promised  them  salvation.  Thus  they 
rest  their  perishing  souls  upon  a  straw. 

Brethren,  none  of  these  things  are  the  origin  of  that  hope  of 
which  we  shall  not  be  ashamed.  It  must  begin  in  a  change  of  tem- 
per. The  carnal  mind  must  be  regenerated.  The  heart  of  stone 
must  be  taken  away,  and  there  must  be  given  a  heart  of  flesh.  Old 
things  must  pass  away  and  all  things  become  new.  There  must 
begin  in  the  soul  a  divine  life.  God  must  be  loved  and  Christ  re- 
ceived by  faith.  The  man  must  be  born  of  God,  and  there  must 
appear  the  unquestioned  features  of  a  new  man.  Christ  must  be 
formed  in  us  the  hope  of  glory.  Such  must  be  the  commencement 
of  our  religion,  or  the  time  will  come  when  we  shall  be  ashamed 
of  our  hope. 

II.  That  we  may  not  at  last  be  ashamed  of  our  hope,  it  must  ren- 
der us  holy. 

"  Every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself  even 
as  he  is  pure."  And  we  are  taught  the  same  truth  in  this  text — 
"  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory."  Now  Christ  can,  in  no  other 
sense,  be  in  the  believer,  than  as  his  doctrines  form  our  creed,  his 
temper  reigns  in  our  hearts,  his  example  guides  our  steps,  and  his 
love  engrosses  our  affections.  To  hope  for  salvation  through 
Christ,  this  hope  must  render  us  like  Christ.  The  design  of  reli- 
gion is,  that  through  its  influence,  God  may  "  purify  unto  himself 
a  peculiar  people  zealous  of  good  works."  We  read  of  a  hope 
that  maketh  not  ashamed,  because  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  the  heart.  Gospel  hope  is  joined  with  faith  and  love,  and  will 
not  be  found  alone.  "  Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity."  He, 
then,  whose  hope  does  not  make  him  a  better  man  will  know  the 
pain  of  finding  his  hope  perish  when  God  taketh  away  his  soul.  Ic 
is  a  question  placed  beyond  all  controversy,  that  he,  who  is  begot- 


191 

ten  again  to  a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from 
the  dead,  will  rise  with  him  to  newness  of  life.  The  man,  then, 
whose  life  and  conversation  is  such  that  he  can  hardly  support  a 
profession,  whose  associates  have  no  hope  that  he  is  a  believer,  arid 
with  whom  the  children  of  God  can  have  no  fellowship,  may  rest 
assured  that  his  hope  will  one  day  render  him  ashamed.  To  sup- 
port, in  the  view  of  men,  a  fair  profession,  is  certainly  a  small  part 
of  the  duties  of  a  Christian  :  for,  in  addition  to  all  this,  we  must 
"  keep  the  heart  with  all  diligence  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of 
life."  When  the  Christian  has  appeared  with  advantage,  in  the 
view  of  others,  still  he  has  a  mighty  warfare  in  his  own  bosom, 
and  will  have  occasion  to  wonder  at  last  if  he  finds  himself  in  hea- 
ven. Holiness  of  life,  then,  is  an  indispensable  associate  of  that 
hope  that  maketh  not  ashamed. 

III.  That  we  may  not  at  last  be  ashamed  of  our  hope,  it  must 
bear  examination. 

If  we  are  afraid  to  examine  our  religion,  lest  it  should  be  found 
not  to  be  the  religion  of  the  gospel,  there  is  evidence  of  conscious 
hypocrisy.  We  are  to  be  always  ready  to  give  a  reason  of  the 
hope  that  is  in  us  with  meekness  and  fear,  and  if  we  are  to  be  al- 
ways ready  to  give  a  reason,  we  must  always  have  one ;  and,  if  we 
have  one,  we  shall  not  be  afraid  to  examine  the  ground  of  our 
hope.  Those  who  have  a  good  hope  through  grace  can  have  no 
fear  as  to  the  result  of  an  examination. 

Hope  is  spoken  of  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul  sure  and  steadfast — 
but  an  anchor  is  a  useless  appendage  if  there  be  no  bottom  in 
which  it  can  be  cast.  Those  who  lose  their  hope  as  soon  as  they 
examine  it,  who  are  plunged  into  doubt  and  darkness  whenever 
they  inquire  into  their  state,  have  a  hope  which  assuredly  will 
make  them  ashamed.  Hence  the  exhortation,  "  Examine  your. 
selves  whether  ye  be  in  the  faith — prove  your  own  selves." 

IV.  That  we  may  not  at  last  be  ashamed  of  our  hope  it  must  live 
without  an  effort.     We  shall  bend  all  our  efforts  to  be  holy  and  our 
hope  will  support  itself. 

He  who  finds  it  difficult  to  support  the  hope  that  he  is  a  believer, 
and  must  be  for  ever  grasping  at  every  word  and  thought  that  may 
afford  him  confidence  in  his  good  estate  is  a  very  doubtful  charac- 
ter. While  the  Christian  agonizes  to  keep  his  feet  in  the  path  of 
lifr ,  he  hangs  very  loosely  by  his  hope  ;  while  he  strives  to  enter 
in  at  the  strait  gate,  he  considers  it  far  less  important  that  he  sup- 


192  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  SHEET  ANCHOR. 

port  constantly  the  unshaken  belief  that  he  has  entered  in  ;  the 
hypocrite  takes  more  pains  to  keep  alive  his  hope,  than  to  warm 
his  heart:  It  is  far  easier  to  wrest  from  a  Christian  his  hope,  than 
to  wrest  it  from  a  self-deceiver.  Let  a  close  and  trying  sermon 
be  delivered,  and  it  will  be  frequently  found  that  God's  people  and 
no  others  have  resigned  their  hopes.  They  dare  examine  the  state 
of  their  religion,  and  they  will  examine,  be  the  consequence  what 
it  may.  If  the  result  is  an  abandonment  of  their  hope,  this  but 
humbles  them,  and  they  return  to  God,  their  hope  revives,  and  they 
are  made  happy.  But  he,  whose  hope  embodies  all  his  religion, 
has  to  make  a  perpetual  effort  to  keep  that  hope  alive,  and  has 
through  the  whole  of  this  effort  many  apprehensions  that  he  shall 
at  last  prove  a  cast-away.  He  feels  and  he  assures  us  that  he 
would  not  give  up  his  hope  for  a  world  ;  but  it  would  be  worth  ten 
thousand  worlds  to  him  if  he  would.  It  is  his  mistaken  hope  that 
prevents  him  from  being  alarmed.  He  is  on  the  very  brink  of 
death,  but  he  dreams  that  all  is  well,  and  his  dreams  hold  him  pro- 
foundly asleep,  and  multiply  the  dangers  that  await  him. 

V.  The  hope  that  maketh  not  ashamed  is  always  interrupted  by 
sin,  while  the  hypocrite  retains  his  hope  unimpaired  in  the  midst 
of  transgression.     When  the  Christian  commits  sin  he  is  conscious 
of  acting  out  of  character,  and  his  hope  trembles.     He  knows  that 
piety  from  its  very  nature  is  at  war  with  every  corruption,   and 
that  nothing  but  perfect  redemption  can  still  the  quarrel.     It  is,  to 
pursue  the  figure,  on  both  sides  a  war  of  extermination.     Hence 
the  least  disposition  to  parley  with  sin  mars  the  hope  of  heaven. 
But  we  have  seen  the  profane,  the  drunkard,  the  false,  the  conten- 
tious, the  prayerless,    arid  every  other  species  of  transgressors 
hold  fast  to  their  hope  while  they  were  led  captive  by  sin.     Per- 
haps we  can  name  no  sign  that  is  darker.     To  entertain  a  hope  of 
salvation,  that  is  unshaken  by  sin,  argues  a  morbid  conscience  and 
an  unbelieving  heart. .   It  evinces  the  absence'  of  every  soft,   and 
tender,  and  holy  affection,  and  settles  the  point  that  Christ  has  not 
there   impressed  his  image.     Oh,  how  many  with  a  hope  like  this, 
have  passed  on  unsanctified  to  the  death-bed,  and  have  at  last  found 
their  hope  perish  when  God  taketh  away  the  soul. 

VI.  That  we  may  not  be  ashamed  of  our  hope  others  must  have 
a  higher  opinion  of  our  piety  than  ourselves. 

Unless    there   be   something  distressingly  wrong  in   our  lives, 
others  will  feel  more  favorably  towards  us  than  we  do  toward  our- 


THE    CHRISTIAN  S  SHEET    ANCHOR.  193 

selves.  Suppose  there  is  nothing  in  our  life  very  immoral,  still 
there  may  be  coldness  and  indifference  to  religion,  worldly-mind- 
edness,  covetousness,  neglect  of  duty,  lightness,  and  folly,  which 
will  render  the  hopes  of  others  for  us  small,  but  if  our  own  hopes 
continue  undiminished  our  case  will  be  dark.  The  Christian  will 
give  others  better  evidence  of  his  piety  than  himself,  because 
others  can  only  survey  the  externals  of  the  man,  while  he  sees  the 
sink  of  iniquity  in  his  own  heart  and  feels  all  its  base  and  mis- 
chievous operations.  The  Christian  would  find  it  comparatively 
easy  to  obtain  salvation  if  nothing  more  was  necessary  than  to  be 
pious  in  the  esteem  of  others.  And  yet  we  know  that  the  Christian 
finds  it  no  easy  matter  to  still  the  tongue  of  slander.  Our  Lord 
himself  could  not  so  live  as  to  silence  calumny  and  detraction. 
His  apostles  were  vilified,  and  all  who  are  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus 
must  suffer,  and  still  it  is  comparatively  easy  so  to  live  that  men 
shall  be  able  to  say  nothing  against  our  Christian  character  and  say 
the  truth.  God's  people  cannot  make  bad  men  love  them  while 
they  follow  Christ  5  but  they  may  so  live  that  all  their  slanders 
shall  be  false,  and  all  their  reproaches  groundless,— may  give  their 
bitterest  enemies  unequivocal  evidence  that  they  love  their  Master, 
while  yet  they  may  judge  very  unfavorably  relative  to  themselves. 
The  fruits  of  their  religion,  better  seen  by  others  than  themselves, 
will  be  fair  and  wholesome.  Thus  will  operate  that  hope,  which 
maketh  not  ashamed  :  it  will  give  others,  not  its  possessor,  decisive 
evidence  of  its  stability. 

VI.  That  we  may  not,  at  last,  be  ashamed  of  our  hope,  it  must 
put  us  upon  earnest  endeavors  to  reach  the  object  of  our  hope.  If 
heaven  is  the  object  of  our  hope,  we  shall  endeavor  to  bring  so 
much  of  heaven  down  to  earth  as  possible.  That  good  which  we 
wait  for  with  eager  desire  we  perpetually  anticipate,  and  thus  taste 
beforehand.  The  amazing  good  in  prospect  will  employ  to  reach 
it  every  power  of  the  soul.  It  is  known  to  the  good  man  that 
barriers,  numerous  and  formidable,  block  the  way  of  life.  The 
danger  of  final  disappointment  is  great.  The  indolent  will  fall 
short  of  the  prize.  We  are  assured  that  "  the  kingdom  of  Hea- 
ven suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force."  The 
apostle  says,  "  I  count  not  myself  to  have  apprehended,  but  this 
one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and 
reaching  forth  to  those  things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the 
mark,  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 
The  believer  will  labor  and  be  anxious  to  know  what  is  the  hope  of 
25 


194  THE    CHRISTIAN  S    SHEET    ANCHOR. 

his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  Christ's  inheritance 
in  the  saints.  Heaven  will  be  viewed  as  worth  all  the  pains  that 
can  be  taken  to  reach  that  world.  There  will  be  great  wrestling 
in  prayer.  The  soul  will  put  forth  all  its  energies  to  break  its 
way  through  the  barriers  of  death  to  the  fields  of  light.  The  true 
believer,  counting  the  things  .unseen  as  infinitely  surpassing  the 
things  seen  and  temporal,  will  labor  earnestly  for  the  meat  which 
endureth  to  everlasting  life.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  is  aiming  at 
something  great  and  invaluable.  •  In  the  pursuit  of  this  good, 
every  minor  object  will  lose,  comparatively,  its  value ;  will  sink 
from  his  view,  and  leave  his  mind  absorbed,  and  his  heart  su- 
premely set  upon  God  and  his  kingdom.  He  will  not  count  his 
own  life  dear  to  him,  "  not  having  on  his  own  righteousness,  which 
is  of  the  law,  but  that  which  is  through  the  faith"  of  Christ,  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith.  In  one  word,  the  man 
who  has  chosen  God  as  his  portion,  and  heaven  as  his  home,  will 
be  in  earnest.  A  few  dull  prayers  and  a  few  listless  efforts  will 
not  satisfy.  He  will  feel  that  he  has  entered  upon  a  race,  and  that 
a  crown  of  glory  is  the  prize.  Hence,  he  will  lay  aside  every 
weight,  and  run  with  patience.  Then,  on  reaching  the  end  of  his 
race,  his  hope  will  not  make  him  ashamed,  nor  will  he  be  ashamed 
of  his  hope.  I  close  with  a  few 

REMARKS.  t 

1.  The  subject  should  urge  us  to  examine  ourselves,  and  render 
us  willing  to  be  examined. 

The  danger  of  being  deceived  is  great ;  and  the  consequences 
of  such  deception  irreparable.  How  unspeakably  horrid  to  find 
on  the  death-bed,  Or,  perhaps,  at  the  very  instant  that  we  lire  dy- 
ing, that  our  hope  is  a  dream.  It  is  too  late  to  repair  the  mis- 
chief, or  have  it  repaired.  There  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor 
knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  we  hasten.  To  know 
that  the  character  is  formed,  and  find  it  a  bad  character — the  des- 
tiny is  fixed,  and  fixed  in  perdition ;  no  language  can  depict  the 
despair  and  horror  of  such  a  discovery.  Hence,  if  we  can  know 
the  worst  of  our  case,  before  we  die,  how  desirable  ! 

2.  The  subject  should  render  us  submissive  and  thoughtful  in 
every  scene  of  life,  by  which  God  tries  our  hope  and  proves  our 
faith.     Comparatively,  it  is  of  no  importance  what  we  suffer  here, 
if  we  may,  by  these  sufferings,  be  waked  from  our  delusions  and 
escape   the  wrath   to  come.     If  our  enjoyments   in  the   present 


THE    CHRISTIAN  S    SHEET    ANCHOR.  195 

world  should  be  in  some  measure  diminished,  it  is  a  matter  of  small 
moment,  if  by  this  means  we  can  be  qualified  for  the  rest  and  en- 
joyment of  heaven.  If  we  find  that  the  fruits  of  our  afflictions  are 
to  take  away  sin,  we  may  rather  rejoice  that  God  will  deal  with 
us  so  kindly.  The  early  Christians  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of 
their  goods,  knowing  in  themselves  that  they  had  in  heaven  a  bet- 
ter and  an  enduring  substance.  If  our  hope  in  heaven  is  unwaver- 
ing, it  must  be  about  all  that  the  good  man  needs — it  is  that  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory  that  must  satisfy  us, 
even  if  it  be  an  inheritance  in  reserve. 

3.  If  our  hope  is  such  that  we  expect  not  to  be  ashamed  of  it  at 
the  last,  let  us  not  be  ashamed  of  it  nowT. 

Men  are  often  seen  to  conduct  as  if  they  were  mortified  at  the 
idea  of  being  considered  believers.  They  have  been  known  to 
make  an  effort  to  conceal  the  fact  that  they  had  taken  upon  them 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  They  are  now  ashamed  of 
their  hope,  or  rather,  of  the  Savior  who  is  professedly  the  object 
of  their  hope  ;  and  our  apprehension  is,  that  he  will  be  ashamed 
of  them  when  he  shall  appear  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  and  of  the 
holy  angels. 

4.  In  that  hope,  of  which  we  shall  not  at  last  be  ashamed,  we 
may  now  rejoice.     "  Which  hope  we  have,"  says  an  apostle,  "  as 
an  anchor  of  the  soul,  sure  and  steadfast,  and  entering  into  that 
within  the  veil."     Thus  our  present  hope  has  to  do  with  the  joys 
of  heaven.     It   is  the  privilege  of  those  who  have  a  good  hope 
through  grace  to  rejoice  and  be  happy.     The  child  of  God  is  not 
called  to  gloominess,  and  darkness,  and  sorrow,  and  apprehension. 
He  is  the  only  man  that  can  be  happy,  whatever  scenes  may  open 
around  him.    "  Though  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom,  neither  shall 
fruit  be  in  the  vines  :-the  labor  of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields 
shall  yield  no  meat :  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold,  and  there 
shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls  ;  yet  he  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  will 
joy  in  the  God  of  his  salvation."     He  has  nothing  to  fear  but  sin  ; 
God  will  take  care  that  nothing  else  hurt  him,  if  he  will  be  careful 
not  to  be  destroyed  by  sin.     "  For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither 
death  nor   life — nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers-^nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come — nor  height  nor  depth — nor 
any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord."     "All  things  are  yours; 
whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world  j  or  life  or  death; 
or  things  present  or  things  to  come  ;  all  are  yours ;  and  ye  are 
Christ's,  and  *Christ  is  God's." 


196  THE    CHRISTIAN  S   SHEET    ANCHOR. 

5.  To  so  live  as  to  sustain  a  high  hope  of  heaven  is  the  way  to 
die  in  peace,  with  anticipated   prospects   of  future   blessedness. 
This  remark  is  founded  on  the  conclusion  that  Christ  will  prove 
faithful  to  his  dying  people  :  his  promise  is,  "  I  will  never  leave, 
I  will  never  forsake  thee."     This  promise,  I  have  supposed,  must 
mply  that   Christ  will  be  present  with  the  dying  Christian. 

If  on  this  subject  I  am  mistaken,  then  this  remark  goes  for  no- 
thing. Oh !  may  it  not  deceive  the  people  of  God  ! 

I  have  sometimes  tried  to  believe  that  the  matter  was  otherwise, 
and  I  have  thus  reasoned :  If  the  people  of  God  are,  at  any  period 
of  life,  peculiarly  unfaithful,  or  if  they  have  spared,  to  a  miserably 
late  hour,  some  darling  lust,  same  right  eye  sin,  from  which  the 
covenant  of  God  secures  their  final  emancipation,  he  may  punish 
them  for  this  on  the  bed  of  death,  and  then  suffer  them  to  be  saved, 
"though  as  by  fire"  And  that  passage  which  seems  to  intimate, 
,  that  when  flesh  and  heart  fail  us,  God  may  be  the  strength  of  our 
heart  and  our  portion.  But  after  all  that  has  been  said,  the  hope 
that  I  may  wake  up  in  death,  and  put  forth  a  repentance  that  shall 
reach  back  and  cover  the  sins  of  a  life-time  ;  or  shall  reach  many 
months  back,  and  secure  my  pardon  when  flesh  and  heart  is  fail- 
ing, and  then  save  me  the  necessity  of  being  holy  in  early  life,  is 
rather  an  attempt  to  hang  the  hope  of  heaven  on  a  spider's  web. 
And  when  I  have  thus  provided  a  hope  for  some  departed  friend, 
and  who  died  in  horrid  darkness,  that  I  fear  is  lost,  I  hardly  dare 
rest  my  own  soul  upon  the  fabric  I  have  erected.  May  the  God 
of  mercy  give  you  a  good  hope,  through  grace,  that  shall  not  per- 
ish when  he  taketh  away  the  soul !  May  that  hope  brighten  up  in 
death,  and  be  uttered  like  that  of  Simeon's,  in  a  song  that  angels 
love  to  hear  :  "  Now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  ac- 
cording to  thy  word,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen*  thy  salvation." 

6.  To  live  with  this  high  hope,  is  to  speak  when  we  are  dead. 
It  is  said  of  one,  that  though  dead  he  yet  speaketh.     Of  Enoch  it 
is  said,  "  He  walked  with  God,  and  he  was  not,  for  God  took  him." 
His  story  will  continue  to  be  told  as  long  as  there  is  a  single  volume 
of  the  book  of  God  still  in  use.     And  every  believer  who  dies, 
giving  high  hopes  of  heaven,  and  maintains  a  life  consistent  with 
those  hopes,  leaves  a  savor  of  godliness  behind  him  that  will  shine 
through  scores  of  years,  and  be  brighter  and  brighter  when  the 
sun  has  gone  into  total  darkness. 

There  is  an  eternity  attached  to  the  moral  actions  of  every  be- 
liever that  can  no  more  become  extinct  than  the  rays  of  light  from 


ANCHOR.  197 

the  sun  can  melt  away  while  the  sun  still  shines.  The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  believer's  light,  and  will  shine  upon  them  for  ever — 
and  they  by  his  light  see  light — and  the  light  they  see  they  reflect 
for  ever.  Hence  every  believer  is  a  light  that  cannot  go  out — 
when  removed  from  earth  he  will  go  to  shine  in  a  nobler  sphere — 
a  star  of  light  for  ever. 

7.  This  subject  should  show  the  ungodly  how  unprepared  they 
are  to  die.  What  would  be  a  preparation  to  die,  is  a  preparation 
to  live. 


SERMON  XV. 

HEAVENLY  FELLOWSHIP. 

1    JOHN    I.    3. 

And  truly  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 

THERE  is  an  interchange  of  relationship  and  affection  between 
the  parts  of  God's  holy  kingdom,  which  it  is  delightful  to  contem- 
plate. There  is  no  doubt  a  sublime  and  holy  fellowship  between 
the  different  persons  of  the  Godhead,  laying  a  foundation  for  unin- 
terrupted and  never-ending  enjoyment.  There  is  a  communion 
and  a  friendship,  reciprocal  and  permanent,  between  God  and  an- 
gels, and  between  him  and  glorified  spirits,  and  this  fellowship  is 
kindly  extended  to  the  members  of  the  church  militant.  "  Our 
fellowship  is  with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.'* 
What  an  enterprise  of  grace,  to  establish  communion  between  a 
world  of  rebels  and  their  Maker  !  And  how  surprising,  brethren, 
that  our  repeated  provocations  should  not  have  cut  us  off  from  this 
communion. 

It  will  be  my  object  to  remark  upon  the  nature  and  extent  of 
this  fellowship.  It  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  subject  on  which  one 
can  obtain  no  distinctness  of  views  without  the  aid  of  experience. 
If  it  should  be  a  precious  hour  with  you  the  next  time  you  come 
to  meet  him  at  his  table,  and  Christ  should  bring  you  into  his  ban- 
queting house,  and  spread  over  you  the  banner  of  his  love,  you 
will  learn  more  of  the  nature  of  this  fellowship  in  that  single  hour, 
than  would  be  taught  you,  by  a  gospel  ministry,  unassisted  by  that 
experience,  in  a  century.  We  are  told 

I.  That  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father.  This  fellowship  origi- 
nates, 

1.  In  the  relation  of  Creator  and  creature.  Here  is  opened  the 
first  intercourse  between  heaven  and  earth.  Creatures  drop  from 
his  hand,  and  immediately  raise  their  eye  to  him  as  the  Author  of 
their  being.  On  this  relationship  is  founded  a  most  endearing  in- 
tercourse. God  must  take  pleasure  in  viewing  his  creature,  in 
seeing  it  precisely  the  being  of  his  choice,  and  encouraging  it  to 


HEAVENLY  FELLOWSHIP.  199 

lean  upon  his  arm ;  and  the  creature,  till  alienated  by  some  ill-fat- 
ed apostacy,  must  take  pleasure  in  surveying  the  uncreated  excel- 
lences of  his  Maker.  This  relationship  extends  to  unholy  beings 
as  entirely  as  to  those  that  are  holy,  but  through  the  influence  of 
depravity  it  generates  in  their  case  no  fellowship.  God  abhors 
the  vessel  he  has  formed,  and  the  potsherd  strives  with  his  Maker. 
It  is  only  where  the  relationship  has  not  been  sundered  by  aposta- 
cy that  it  becomes  the  basis  of  a  pleasant  and  permanent  commu- 
nion. 

2.  There  exists  between  believers  and  their  heavenly  Father 
the  relationship  of  Benefactor  and  recipient,  constituting  a  medium 
of  delightful  fellowship.      His  hands  daily  dispense  our  blessings. 
What  he  gives  us  we  gather.      He  opens  his  hand  and  we  are 
abundantly  supplied.     Conscious  of  our  dependence,  we  approach 
his  throne  by  prayer,  and  spread  our  wants  before  him,  and  he  is 
pleased  with  our  confidence  and  encourages  us  to  repeat  our  re- 
quests.    Thus  through  the  medium  of  a  kind  and  watchful  provi- 
dence, there  is  kept  open  an  intercourse  between  heaven  and  earth. 
The  benefits  being  dispensed  with  benevolence,  and  received  with 
ingenuous  gratitude,  lead  to  pure  and  holy  fellowship  between  the 
dispenser  and  the  beneficiary.      God  is  also  the  benefactor  of  un- 
godly men,  but  his  benefits  are  not  received  with  thanksgiving, 
nor  spent  obediently,  hence  there  is  opened  between  God  and  them 
no  delightful  intercourse.     They  receive  his  mercies  as  the  beast 
feeds  in  his  pastures,  and  drinks  at  the  brook,  unmindful  of  his 
Benefactor. 

3.  The  relation  of  Lawgiver  and  subject  creates  a  tender  and  in- 
teresting fellowship.     The  moral  Governor  makes  known  his  will, 
gives  to  law  its  sanctions,  issues  promises,  and  presents  motives 
to  obedience,  and  the  dutiful  subject  becomes  cheerfully  the  Lord's 
servant,  and  thus  is  generated  an  interesting  communion.     God  is 
present  by  his  Spirit  to  expound  his  law  ;  and  his  subjects  waiting 
to  know  the  will  of  their  sovereign,  take  pleasure  in   obedience, 
and  are  loved  by  their  Lord.     Hence  the  infinite  space  between 
God  and  man  is  filled,  and  the  heart  of  the  Lawgiver  and  his  sub- 
jects mingle    their    affections,  in  a  grand    and  noble  fellowship. 
There  is  the  same  relationship  between  God  and  his  disobedient 
subjects.     Devils  are  the  subjects  of  God's  moral  government,  and 
will  be  under  obligation  to  obedience  for  ever,  but  depravity  mars, 
and,  when  it  is  total,  destroys  communion. 

4.  That  which  crowns  the  whole,  which  blesses  all  the  other 
relationships,  and   is  finally  the  principal  source  of  communion,  is 


200  HEAVENLY    FELLOWSHIP. 

the  mutual  attachment  which  subsists  between  God  and  his  people. 
He  has  put  his  fear  in  their  hearts,  has  brought  them  to  delight  in 
his  statutes,  and  to  walk  in  them,  and  they  have  chosen  him  as 
their  Lord.  They  claim  him  as  their  Father,  and  they  are  owned 
by  him  as  his  dutiful  children.  They  approve  all"  his  character 
and  delight  in  his  praise,  and  he  takes  pleasure  in  them,  puts  upon 
them  his  own  beauties,  makes  them  what  he  can  love,  and  then 
loves  them.  Thus  we  have  fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  this 
fellowship  will  be  increasingly  sweet  till  we  are  prepared  for  his 
presence,  and  are  joined  to  the  full  assembly  of  the  Church  of  the 
first-born  in  heaven. 

II.  Not  only  have  we  fellowship  with  the  Father,  but  with  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ.  With  him  we  have  fellowship, 

1.  As  Redeemer  and  redeemed.     When  we  we  had  forfeited  our 
life  at  the  hand  of  justice,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  took  our  place, 
and  bore  our  sins.     To  him  we  owe  our  escape  from  hell,  and  that 
escape  he  purchased  with  his  bloody  sweat  and  dying  groans. 
The  price  of  our  redemption  could  be  no  less  than  the  life  of  the 
Redeemer.     And  now,  from  the  throne  of  his  glory,  he  dispenses 
the  blessings  which  he  died  to  purchase,  to  those  who  are  made 
willing  in  the  day  of  his  power.     These  thankfully  receive,  and 
daily  rejoice  in  the  fruits  of  his  redeeming  love.     Thus  is  opened 
between  the   Savior  and  his  people  an  inexhaustible  resource  of 
pure  and  precious  fellowship. 

2.  We  are  in  fellowship  with  the  Redeemer  as  the  head  and  the 
members.     Says  an  apostle,  "  We  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his 
flesh  and  his  bones."     He  is  to  his  people   a  source  of  spiritual 
life,  and  they  in  a  sense,  not  to  be  fully  told,  constitute  the  body 
of  Christ.     Their  life  is  hid  in  him,  and  from  him  circulates  through 
all  his  members,  as  the  natural  head  governs  the  vital  principles 
of  the  body.     Hence  he  views  his  people  as  parts,  precious  parts^ 
of  himself. 

The  figure  is  changed,  but  the  same  idea  is  retained,  when  he  is 
called  the  vine,  and  his  people  the  branches.  We  know  that  they 
live  only  by  their  union  to  the  vine.  Thus  the  Church  daily  de- 
rives its  strength  and  its  life  from  Christ.  For  their  nourishment 
he  has  graciously  provided  on  earth  a  gospel  feast,  and  in  heaven 
an  endless  banquet ;  and  if  any  hungry,  thirsty  soul  would  see 
Christ,  he  will  be  there  to  sustain  him  with  the  bread  of  heaven. 
I  hope  many  of  my  readers  will  feel  the  truth  of  the  text.  The 
avenues  of  this  communion  will  be  opened,  and  we  shall  know  the 


HEAVENLY   FELLOWSHIP.  201 

blessedness  of  having  fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ. 

When  we  view  the  Redeemer  in  his  human  nature,  there  are 
still  other  sources  of  fellowship. 

We  fellowship  him  in  his  sufferings.  From  him  and  from  us  God 
in  his  wisdom  may  hide  his  face.  When  he  cried  out,  "  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  V  he  came  so  into  our  place 
that  we  can  sympathize  with  him.  The  believer  is  sometimes 
deserted  of  the  sensible  presence  of  his  Lord.  In  such  a  case, 
our  trial  is  similar,  but  probably  far  less  dreadful  than  his.  Hence, 
under  the  frowns  of  Heaven  he  pitied  us,  and  we  have  a  very  sen- 
sible fellowship  with  him. 

Or  if  men  rise  upon  us  in  malice,  persecute  us,  cast  out  our 
names  as  evil,  and  account  us  the  disturbers  of  the  peace,  or  even 
nail  us  to  a  cross,  Christ  can  fellowship  us.     He   is  at  present 
raised  above  the  malice  of  men,  but  he  did  bear  their  reproach. 
He  has  not  forgotten  the  impious  band  that  united  to  achieve  his 
ruin.     The  scribes,  pharisees,  Sadducees,  the  high  priest,  Pilate, 
Judas,  and  the  whole   sanhedrim  united  their  forces  for  his  over- 
throw.    Though  in  heaven,  he  still  recollects  the  fraud,  the  false- 
hood, the  treachery,  and  malice,  which  lined  his  path  and  set  his 
temple  with  thorns.     He  can  never  forget  the  ingratitude  of  that 
generation  whose  diseases  he  healed,  whose  leprosies  he  cleansed, 
whose  ears  he  unstopped,  whose  blind  he  enlightened,  whose  poor 
he  fed,  whose   sins  he  pardoned,  and  whose  dead  he  raised.     In 
these  matters  we  have  not  a  High  Priest  who  cannot  be  touched 
with  our  infirmities,  but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin.     Hence,  between  him  and  his  people,  when  called 
to  similar  trials,  there  is  a  fellowship  of  sufferings.     To  have  been 
fellow-sufferers   in  the  same  exile,  the  same   prison,    the  same 
bondage,  the  same  shipwreck,  or  the  same  wilderness,  creates,  you 
know,   an  endearing  fellowship.      And,  brethren,   it  will  endear 
Christ  to  us,  and  us  to  him,  for  ever,  that  we  have  passed  the  same 
desert,  and  were  beset  by  the  same  race  of  unpitying  beings.    And 
the  promise,  you  know,  is,  that  if  we  suffer  with  him,  we  shall 
also  reign  with  him. 

And  we  have  experienced  together  the  malice  of  the  same 
tempter.  He  knew  the  intrigues,  felt  the  buffetings,  and  bore  the 
malice  of  the  adversary.  He  still  remembers  the  forty  days  in  the 
wilderness,  and  can  furnish  us  with  the  same  weapons  with  which 
he  conquere^.  And  we  are  riot  ignorant  of  his  devices.  Still  he 
<*oeth  about  as  a  roaring  lion  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  But 
26 


202  HEAVENLY    FELLOWSHIP. 

in  all  our  sufferings  from  his  malice,  our  Redeemer  is  nigh  to  help 
us,  and  has  fellowship  with  us  in  our  trials. 

And  the  same  is  true  of  the  sufferings  incident  to  human  nature. 
He  endured  hunger,  thirst,  want,  pain,  and  poverty.  "  The  foxes 
have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man 
hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  The  best  birth-place  that  could 
be  furnished  him  wa"s  a  manger,  the  best  home  a  cottage,  and  the 
best  offering,  when  his  mother  was  purified,  a  pair  of  doves.  And 
his  life  was  oppressed  throughout  with  the  same  poverty.  He  eat 
bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face,  and  was  glad  to  rest  his  bones  on  a 
bed  of  straw.  Hence,  if  his  people  are  poor,  if  they  lack  bread,  or 
raiment,  or  home,  or  friend,  or  offering,  he  feels  for  them ;  and 
there  is  produced  an  endearing  fellowship.  If  Christ  will  pass  with 
us  through  the  same  vale  of  poverty,  and  through  the  same  scenes 
of  want,  neglect,  disease,  and  pain,  we  can  utter  no  complaint. 

Even  in  death  the  fellowship  remains  unbroken.  He  felt  and 
suffered  under  the  cold  chills  of  death,  and  that  the  most  painful. 
His  tender  nerves  quivered  on  the  ragged  nails,  his  temples  bled 
under  the  thorns,  and  his  heart  upon  the  point  of  the  spear.  Hence 
Christ  can  fellowship  us  when  we  die.  We  shall  meet  with  him 
in  the  valley,  and  his  rod,  and  his  staff  will  comfort  us.  How  sweet 
will  it  be  to  have  fellowship  with  him  there ! 

And  we  can  have  fellowship  with  him  in  his  resurrection.  He 
has  passed  through  all  the  terrors  of  the  grave,  he  has  lighted  that 
prison,  has  chased  away  the  glooms  of  the  vault,  and  has  prepared 
for  us  a  song  against  that  hour,  "  Oh,  death,  where  is  thy  sting  V 
He  has  secured  to  his  followers  a  happy  resurrection.  Angels 
heard  him  exclaim,  as  he  rose,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life ;  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live  ;  and  he  that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die."  He 
has  styled  himself  the  first  fruits  of  the  resurrection,  and  we  shall 
all  have  fellowship  with  him  in  his  escape  from  the  damps  of  the 
sepulchre.  As  he  is  our  head,  if  we  love  him,  we  shall  rise  with 
him  to  everlasting  life.  How  sweet  to  have  so  finished  a  fellow- 
ship with  our  Redeemer. 

But,  after  all  this  is  said,  the  grand  medium  of  fellowship  is 
holy  love.  We  must  have  complacency  in  his  character,  and  he 
in  ours,  that  our  sympathies  may  be  perfect.  He  must  clothe  us 
with  his  own  beauties  before  he  can  fellowship  us,  and  we  must 
have  a  spiritual  discernment  of  his  excellences.  Hence,  how  cer- 
tain that  impenitent  men  can  hold  no  Communion  with  him.  And 
how  undeniable  that  our  fellowship  with  him  in  the  coming  world 
will  be  more  perfect  than  in  the  present.  We  shall  then  see  him 


HEAVENLY   FELLOWSHIP.  203 

as  he  is,  and  our  love  to  him  will  be  perfect.     Let  us  attend  a 
little  to  this  future  and  more  perfect  fellowship. 

1.  Our  fellowship  will  hereafter  be  richer  and  sweeter,  as  we 
shall  leave  behind  us  all  our  fears  and  doubts.     There  remains  so 
much  iniquity  in  all  our  hearts,  that  the  most  holy  have  much  oc- 
casion to  fear  that  they  shall  never  reach  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
And  in  all  our  duties,  and  our  songs,  our  feasts,  these  fears  are  pre- 
sent to  alloy  our  pleasures.     But  when  Christ  shall  appear  we  shall 
be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.     The  redeemed  shall  be 
confirmed  in  a  state  of  holiness  and  happiness.     Our  fears  will  be 
gone,  the  conflict  ended,  the  foe  defeated,  the  prize  won,  and  the 
palms  of  victory  awarded.     Then  what  a  sweet  communion !     On 
looking  back  we  shall  see  the  wilderness  all  trodden  over,  not  an- 
other snare  or  pit  in  our  path,  not  another  serpent  to  bite,  nor  foe 
to  assail.     Jordan  and  the  desert  behind,  our  feet  planted  on  the 
hills  of  promise,  and  our  hearts  at  rest.     We  may  descry  other 
pilgrims,  toiling,  weary,  tempted,  trembling,  "faint,  yet  pursuing," 
but  our  own  case  happily  decided.     And  who  can  calculate  what 
joy  he  shall  feel  when  his  fears  are  gone,  how  sweet  that  marriage 
supper  where  there  will  mingle  no  apprehensions  of  disappointment. 

2.  Our  fellowship  will  be  more  enlightened.     Here,  at  the  best, 
we  see  but  through  a  glass  darkly.     Every  view  we  take  of  Christ 
and  truth  is  limited  and  obscure,  but  in  heaven  we  shall  know  even 
as  we  are  known.     This  is  a  dark  world,  that  will  be  lighted  by  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb.     And  our  communion  with  the  Re- 
deemer will  increase  its  pleasure,  in  proportion  to  our  increase  of 
light. 

3.  The  fellowship  of  heaven  will  not  be  disturbed  with  unbelief. 
Faith  will  have  done  its  work  and  be  changed  to  vision.     The  veil 
will  be  rent,  every  object  of  faith  be  a  reality,  and  the  things  un- 
seen be  distinctly  developed.     If  at  present,  though  now  we  see 
him  not,  yet  believing,  we  can  often  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory,  how  increased  will  be  that  joy,  and  how  unsul- 
lied that  glory  when  our  eyes  shall  see  him ! 

4.  Our  communion  in  heaven  will  be  erihanced  by  the  absence  of 
every  unbeliever.     We  shall  have  no  apprehension  that  any  traitor 
has  taken  his  seat  with  us  at  the  heavenly  banquet.    They  that  were 
ready  will  have  gone  into  the  marriage,  and  the  door  will  be  shut. 
The  tares  will  have  been  gathered  up.    In  the  apostolic  family  there 
will  be  no  Judas.     We  shall  cheerfully  extend  the  fellowship  we 
feel  to  all  who  shall  drink  with  us  of  the  river  of  the  water  of  life. 

5.  And  what  is  a  still  richer  thought,  we   shall  be  holy.     No 


204*  HEAVENLY  FELLOWSHIP. 

body  of  sin  and  death  will  be  there  to  mar  the  feast.  Every  cor- 
ruption will  be  cured,  every  grace  made  perfect.  The  Redeemer 
will  frown  upon  none  of  the  holy  family.  Oh,  can  it  be  that  I  shall 
be  there,  and  you  brethren,  so  changed !  No  guilty  conscience  to 
spoil  our  fellowship.  We  shall  feel  that  we  have  a  right  there,  shall 
apprehend  no  wrong  motive,  shall  fear  no  repulse,  and  be  disturbed 
with  no  wrong  affections.  This  busy  world  will  not  intrude  its 
cares,  to  mar  our  pleasures  and  pollute  our  offerings.  As  we  shall 
yield  ourselves  to  the  Redeemer  in  every  song,  there  will  be  no  re- 
serve. He  will  be  seen  to  deserve  the  whole  heart,  and  the  whole 
will  be  his.  No  other  object  will  claim  a  share  in  our  worship,  or 
divert  the  current  of  our  affections.  Hence  our  communion  with 
the  Redeemer  will  be  uninterrupted,  and  unalloyed.  Every  act  of 
fellowship  will  raise  us  higher,  and  still  higher  in  the  scale  of  be- 
ing, till  at  length  we  shall  find  our  hearts  glowing  with  an  ardor 
akin  to  that  which  angels  feel,  and  our  song  vying  with  theirs  in  the 
sweetness  of  its  melody.  Brethren,  let  it  be  our  paramount  con- 
cern to  equip  ourselves  for  this  sublime  and  immortal  fellowship. 

6.  There  is  something  pleasant  in  the  thought  that  we  shall  not 
carry  to  the  heavenly  banquet  these  weak  and  dying  bodies.  At 
these  communions  we  are  liable  to  be  faint  and  weary.  Sabbaths 
and  ordinances  lose  at  present  much  of  their  sweetness  through 
the  morbid  influence  of  a  diseased  body.  The  spirit  is  willing  but 
the  flesh  is  weak.  We  tire  amid  the  heavenly  road.  Hence  many 
of  our  tears,  hence  many  of  our  groans,  and  much  of  our  gloom 
and  despondency.  But,  when  once  we  have  breathe*d  the  air  of 
heaven,  we  shall  feel  all  the  vigor  of  youth,  we  shall  tire  no  more, 
we  shall  be  dull  no  more.  And  how  rich  an  ingredient  will  this  be 
in  our  future  fellowship ! 

FINALLY. — In  the  coming  world  our  fellowship  with  Christ,  and 
with  his  holy  family  will  continue  uninterrupted  for  ever.  Much 
of  our  comfort  in  prayer,  and  in  the  ordinances,  and  in  all  our 
acts  of  devotion  in  the  present  life,  is  destroyed  by  the  intruding 
thought  that  the  season  will  terminate.  If  we  had  begun  to  taste 
the  blessedness  of  heaven,  and  had  almost  forgotten  that  we  were 
in  the  body,  we  were  soon  reminded  of  our  mistake,  and  were  con- 
strained to  descend  and  have  our  ardor  cooled  by  a  flood  of  world- 
ly cares.  These  Sabbaths,  and  these  communions  have  their 
periods.  We  shall  find  nothing  permanent  till  we  come  to  heaven, 
and  there  nothing  will  be  transitory.  Our  song  and  our  fellowship 
will  be  increasingly  new  for  ever. 


SERMON   XVI. 

THE  WISE  BUILDER.* 

PROVERBS    XIV.    1. 

Every  wise  woman  buildeth  her  house*. 

IT  is  remarkable  that  the  Scriptures  have  adapted  their  instruc- 
tion to  every  character  and  condition  in  human  life.  Here  the  fa- 
ther and  the  master,  the  son  and  the  servant,  learn  their  duties. 
Here  the  husband  and  the  wife,  the  child,  the  youth,  and  the  old 
man  ;  the  magistrate  and  the  monarch  are  each  instructed  in  his 
respective  obligations.  Hence  every  one  should  study  that  book, 
and-  form  a  character  after  the  model  it  exhibits.  The  text  will 
lead  me,  as  you  perceive,  to  address  one  great  division  of  the  hu- 
man family.  This  division  includes  about  half  of  our  race.  It 
will  be  my  object  to  exhibit  some  thoughts  calculated  to  aid  in 
forming  the  female  character.  The  text  suggests  a  natural  di- 
vision, and  will  le#d  me  to  describe  the  wise  woman,  and  show  that 
such  a  woman  will  build  up  her  house. 

I.  I  am  to  describe  the  wise  woman.  It  will  be  obvious  that  in 
this  description  I  must  not  confine  myself  to  any  particular  age  or 
situation,  but  must  follow  her  through  all  the  various  offices  and  re- 
lationships which  she  may  be  called  to  sustain.  I  observe,  then  in  the 

1st  place — That  she  must  know  how  to  manage  with  prudence  and 
care  the  concerns  of  a  family.  All  other  qualifications- combined 
would  never  atone  for  deficiency  here.  Inspiration  declares  it  the 
business  of  the  woman  "  to  guide  the  house."  Where  the  mother 
is  a  cipher  in  her  family,  it  deranges  every  domestic  concern,  and 
is  a  certain  prelude  to  poverty  and  misery.  No  other  person  can 
feel  the  interest,  or  endure  the  fatigue,  requisite  to  the  discharge 
of  these  duties.  Hence  the  daughter,  who  for*  any  reason  what- 
ever, is  kept  ignorant  of  domestic  concerns,  is  rendered  incapable 
of  filling  the  station  which  the  God  of  nature  has  assigned  her. 
And  to  be  willing  to  remain  ignorant  argues  a  depraved  taste.  It 
should  be  our  aim  to  prepare  ourselves  to  be  useful  in  the  place 

*  Prepared  and  delivered  at  a  donation  party  given  by  the  ladies  of  his  congregation  during  the 
author's  residence  at  Amherst,  Mass. 


206  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

assigned  us,  and  to  fill  that  place  wjth  dignity  and  honor.  Hence 
every  daughter,  and  every  wife,  should  cheerfully  habituate  herself 
to  the  burden  of  domestic  care. 

How  many  when  they  had  thought  themselves  equipped  for  the 
direction  of  a  family,  have  needed  to  learn  the  first  principles  of 
domestic  economy.  That  taste  which  prepares  a  female  to  adjust 
the  ornaments  of  her  house,  is  not  sufficient,  nor  that  wealth 
which  can  furnish  it  with  elegance;  nor  that  ruggedness  which 
can  endure  the  drudgery  of  home ;  nor  the  whole  combined. 
Health  is  an  invaluable  blessing,  and  a  fine  taste  is  a  source  of 
much  comfort,  and  wealth  has  its  value ;  but  in  connection  with 
all  these,  there  must  be  a  nice  and  accurate  knowledge  of  domes- 
tic economy,  to  render  a  wife  a  help-meet.  The  husband  is  ru- 
ined who  does  not  find  his  house  a  respectable,  social,  neat,  and 
happy  home.  If  he  can  be  more  happy  in  any  other  house  than 
his  own,  he  is  a  lost  man. 

2.  Jl  wise  woman  will  improve  her  taste,  and  her  manners.  By 
taste,  in  this  connection,  1  mean  a  relish  for  the  beauties  of  nature 
and  of  art ;  and  by  manners,  a  suitable  expression  of  a  good  taste. 
Some  taste  is  indispensable  in  the  decent  and  respectable  manage- 
ment of  a  family.  The  design  of  the  domestic  relations  was  the 
augmentation  of  social  blessedness.  Mere  subsistence  is  not  aL 
we  needy  but  all  we  can  acquire  without  some  improvement  of  taste : 
and  no  faculty  is  more  improvable.  Its  improvement  must  add  to 
our  innocent  enjoyment,  and  was  given  us  for  this  purpose. 

I  am  aware  that  many  have  been  considered  proud  because  they 
exhibited  taste.  But  the  probability  is,  that  one  can  be  as  proud 
of  his  hovel  and  his  rags,  as  another  of  his  palace  and  his  dress. 
I  have  seen  beings  in  the  shape  of  men,  who  were  proud  of  their 
deformities,  and  have  exhibited  no  shame  when  they  had  acted  the 
ape,  and  played  the  mastiff.  They  are  proud  who  treat  with  neg- 
lect or  contempt  their  equals  or  inferiors ;  or  exhibit  scorn 
towards  those  who  cannot  make  the  same  show  as  themselves  of 
beauty,  learning,  or  riches.  But  all  this  has  no  connection  with 
taste,  except  to  evince  its  absence. 

Why  should  not  the  improvement  of  this  faculty  as  well  as 
others,  render  us  happy  1  Why  are  the  civilized  more  happy  than 
the  savage  1  Why  is  the  landscape  spread  out  before  us  unless  an 
improved  taste  may  derive  pleasure  from  the  view  ?  One  univer- 
sal and  dull  monotony  would  have  served  every  purpose  of  utility, 
aside  from  the  pleasures  of  taste.  The  flower  might  have  had 
but  one  hue,  and  the  rainbow  but  one  color,  if  taste  is  a  useless 


THE   WISE    BUILDER.  207 

faculty.  The  varied  sceneries  of  spring,  harvest,  and  winter,  are 
useless,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  but  to  the  eye  of  taste.  Has  the 
wise  Creator,  who  in  everything  else  had  his  purpose,  painted  na- 
ture in  the  richest  variety  of  shade  without  design  1  He  cannot 
be  charmed  himself  with  these  created  beauties,  and  the  brute  has 
no  relish  for  variety  and  harmony.  If  done  for  men,  and  done  in 
vain  till  the  taste  be  cultivated,  how  incumbent  on  all  who  would 
be  happy  to  prepare  themselves  to  see  a  God  employed  in  paint- 
ing the  beauteous  landscape  !  The  female  especially,  whose  taste, 
when  cultivated,  is  exquisitely  delicate,  who  would  answer  the  end 
of  her  being,  and  take  pleasure  in  the  variety  and  beauty  of  God's 
works,  will  not  permit  a  talent  so  useful  to  be  unimproved. 

And  with  her  taste  there  is  no  fear  that  she  will  not  improve  her 
manners.  I  acknowledge  that  this  is  a  species  of  improvement 
which  relates  principally  to  the  present  world,  but  it  has  an  impor- 
tant bearing  upon  religion.  The  Bible  enjoins  it  upon  us  to  be 
courteous ;  it  qualifies  us  to  make  our  religion  useful  $  it  repels 
prejudice,  and  gives  us  readier  access  to  the  heart.  Ease  of  man- 
ners will  procure  us  friends,  extend  our  influence,  and  increase  our 
usefulness.  In  a  female,  it  creates  a  dignity  which  commands  re- 
spect, an  enchanting  softness  that  ensures  esteem.  It  is  not  reli- 
gion, but  it  is  her  handmaid,  and  is  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  a 
minister  to  teach  or  a  Christian  to  learn. 

3.  Jl  wise  woman  will  aim  to  improve  her  mind.  This  department 
of  our  nature,  to  which  we  ascribe  perception,  thought,  reason, 
and  judgment,  is  capable  of  vast  enlargement.  It  is  at  first,  like 
the  body,  small  of  stature  ;  and  its  first  operations,  like  the  infant 
actions,  are  feeble*.  Like  the  body  it  grows  to  maturity  by  nutri- 
ment ;  or  by  neglect,  may  remain  through  life  in  its  infant  state. 
It  is  amazing  how  circumscribed  are  the  limits  of  thought  in  some 
whose  years  indicate  wisdom.  When  they  should  have  explored 
much  of  the  natural  and  moral  world,  their  minds  have  scarcely 
left  the  threshold  of  their  habitation.  And  ignorance  is  sure  to  fos- 
ter base  affections.  Hence  pride,  envy,  jealousy,  censoriousness, 
suspicion,  and  calumny.  The  ignorant  judge  of  every  object  by 
their  own  limited  experience.  Every  action  and  every  object  is 
brought  to  the  standard  of  their  own  contracted  apprehensions ;  is 
hewn  down,  and  shaped  and  moulded,  to  their  own  dwarfish  concep- 
tions. Hence  one-half  of  the  tumult  and  misery  of  our  world. 
The  ignorant  have  within  themselves  no  source  of  happiness,  and 
they  are  a  barrier  to  the  happiness  of  others.  Like  some  dull  do- 


208  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

| 

mestic  animal,  they  never  go  abroad  for  food,  but  stay  rather  and 
starve  about  the  place  of  their  home. 

The  mind  is  enlarged  by  receiving  ideas,  and  by  using  them  as 
materials  of  thought  and  reasoning.  And  these  materials  may  be 
collected,  not  merely  from  books,  but  from  the  volume  of  nature, 
and  from  every  event  of  providence  and  of  grace.  To  enlarge  the 
mind  is  merely  to  learn  to  think  wisely  ;  and  is  the  duty  of  all,  to 
whom  God  has  kindly  given  the  power  of  thought. 

To  be  willing  to  remain  ignorant, -is  to  feel  indifferent  whether 
God's  great  object  in  our  creation  be  accomplished.  We  have  at 
present  only  begun  our  existence  ;  we  are  destined  to  a  nobler 
state.  If  we  prove  obedient  subjects  to  God's  holy  kingdom,  he 
will  continue,  by  his  providence  and  his  grace,  to  ennoble  our  na- 
tures for  ever.  The  infant  in  its  mother's  arms,  if  not  injured  by 
her  who  should  be  its  best  friend,  is  yet  to  be  an  angel.  All 
through  eternity  we  may  hope  that  it  will  be  still  rising  to  a  no- 
bler stature.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be."  And 
happily  we  live  in  an  age  when  no  man  presumes  to  say,  that  the 
female  mind  possesses  any  natural  imbecility,  which  must  neces- 
sarily cramp  its  growth,  or  depress  its>manly  stature. 

Every  wise  woman,  then,  will  enlarge  her  mind ;  will  read,  ana 
think,  and  reason.  She  will  be  especially  ambitious  to  grow  in  the 
knowledge  of  God ;  will  become  acquainted  with  her  own  being, 
and  with  being  in  general ;  that  she  may  be  the  more  happy,  and 
the  more  useful.  Sisters,  mothers,  there  lies  a  world  around  you, 
and  within  your  reach,  which  it  is  your  duty  to  explore.  It  rests 
with  you  to  determine  whether  you  will  carry  with  you  to  the 
grave  a  contracted  mind,  or  a  mind  large  as  the  regions  of  space. 
Men  have  been  found  base  enough  to  libel  your  characters,  and 
have  pronounced  the  female  sex  made  for  servitude.  The  re 
proach  is  unmerited,  and  has  been  promptly  repelled.  It  belongs 
to  you  to  settle  this  question  for  ever,  and  show  the  slanderer  that 
you  are  capable  of  an  intellectual  dignity,  which  can  look  him  into 
deserved  contempt.  Endeavor  in  yourselves,  and  your  daughters, 
to  give  noble  examples  of  female  magnanimity ;  to  reach  that 
growth  of  thought  that  shall  make  you  and  them  blessings  to  un- 
born generations,  and  to  the  world. 

4.  Ji  wise  woman  will  endeavor  to  enlighten  and  improve  her  con- 
science. This  is  that  faculty  of  the  soul  by  which  we  weigh  the 
morality  of  an  action ;  than  which  no  power  of  our  nature  is  more 
susceptible  of  improvement.  To  improve  the  conscience  we  must 
give  it  light,  and  let  it  guide  us.  Every  one  has  a  conscience,  and 


THE    WISE    BUILDER.  .   209 

t  I 

will  be  guided  more  w  less  by  its  dictates,  in  the  way  of  life  or 
death ;  and,  if  that  conscience  be  uninformed,  or  misinformed,  it 
will  lead  us  on  the  route  to  ruin.  The  papist  is  conscientious 
when  he  worships  the  mother  of  Christ,  the  Mahometan  when  he 
stabs  his  brother,  the  Hindoo  when  he  immolates  his  offspring,  and 
the  Persian  when  he  prays  to  the  sun.  Paul,  while  he  persecuted 
the  saints,  thought  he  did  God  service.  There  is  no  calculating 
where  conscience  may  lead  us,  if  it  be  unenlightened  by  the  Bible 
or  the  Spirit  of  God.  Well  enlightened,  it  guides  us  to  happiness 
and  heaven.  But  wrong  will  not  become  right  because  we  are 
conscientious  in  the  wrong.  This  has  been  supposed  to  be  the 
meaning  of  that  text,  "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he  ;" 
but  this  is  a  very  gross  perversion  of  a  very  plain  passage.  In  a 
female  a  tender  conscience  is  <m  indispensable  ornament.  To  see 
her  fly  from  wrong,  as  the  tender  nerve  shrinks  from  the  touch  of 
fire,  is  her  highest  beauty.  It  casts  about  her  a  glory  which  no 
slanderer  can  tarnish ;  a  beauty  which  neither  time,  nor  care,  nor 
age,  nor  trials  can  deface.  She  will  have  honor  in  any  circle  where 
her  name  is  mentioned,  and  influence  in  whatever  concern  she  en- 
lists. These  will  attach  an  honor  to  her  offspring,  and  there  will 
rest  a  glory  upon  her  grave  that  will  long  survive  her  ashes. 

One  of  this  description  I  knew,  ajid  I  love  to  remember,  and 
mention  her.  Her  presence  awed  sin  into  shame,  rendered  the 
slanderer  dumb,  and  the  proud  humble.  All  about  her  loved  her, 
for  she  loved  them.  Unless  she  could  speak  well  of  her  neighbor 
she  was  silent.  Her  piety  was  respected,  because  her  conscience 
was  enlightened.  She  gathered  around  her  the  pious  and  the  wise, 
and  made  them  happy  till  she  was  summoned  to  heaven.  They 
wept  at  her  funeral,  and  her  mantle,  I  hope,  fell  on  some  who  wit- 
nessed her  ascension.  Her  children  were  respected  by  all  who 
knew  their  mother,  and  some  of  them  I  hope  will  enjoy  her  socie- 
ty in  heaven. 

A  female  without  a  conscience  is  a  frightful  character.  Her  hus- 
band can  have  no  confidence  in  her  fidelity,  and  who  can  guarantee 
the  character  of  her  children  1  No  prudent  man  will  make  her 
house  his  home.  Her  touch  pollutes,  and  her  embrace  is  death 
To  all  about  her  she  opens  the  avenues  of  infamy  and  hell.  To 
the  full  extent  of  her  influence  she  carries  misery  and  tears.  She- 
destroys  her  children,  poisons  the  streams  of  friendship,  breaks  the 
bonds  of  affection,  and  chills  every  stream  of  social  and  celestial 
life.  And,  finally,  there  settles  upon  her  grave  a  dark,  black  cloud, 
a  cloud  in  which  there  is  no  bow  of  promise,  a  horrid  beacon  to 
27 


210  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

unborn  generations,  warning  them  not  to  make  shipwreck  of  con- 
science. 

5.  Jl  wise  woman  will  be  particularly  careful  to  cultivate  the  heart. 
There  may  be  improvements  made  in  the  temper  and  affections  of 
the  heart,  aside  from  religion.  The  instinctive  affections  are  capa- 
ble of  improvement  by  other  means  than  grace.  Selfish  motives, 
or  an  improved  taste,  may  lead  us  to  become  tender,  affectionate, 
kind,  and  soft,  in  our  social  and  domestic  intercourse. 

Still  grace  is  the  only  effectual  source  of  right  affections.  The 
heart  is  naturally  too  hard  to  be  much  softened  by  any  other  than 
a  celestial  influence.  The  baser  passions  must  be  eradicated,  holy 
affections  infused  and  cultivated,  and  the  whole  life  made  new,  by 
the  same  creative  power  that  formed  us  at  first.  The  female  cha- 
racter when  otherwise  improved  is  still  essentially  defective  in  the 
absence  of  piety.  We  delight  to  see  them  disciplined  to  domestic 
care,  we  admire  an  improved  taste  and  an  enlightened  mind,  still 
more  a  tender  conscience,  and,  most  of  all,  a  pious  heart. 

Religion,  in  a  female,  secures  all  her  interests.  It  graces  her 
character,  promotes  her  peace,  endears  her  friendship,  secures  for 
her  esteem,  and  adds  a  dignity  and  a  worth  indescribable  to  all  her 
deeds.  How  sweet  when  the  mistress  of  a  family  is  the  handmaid 
of  the  Lord ;  when  the  mother  of  children  is  an  example  of  piety  ; 
when  the  wife  of  the  bosom  is  espoused  to  the  Redeemer,  how  de- 
sirable that  the  daughter  be  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ ;  that  the  sis- 
ter lean  on  his  arm,  who  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother  j  that  the 
songsters  of  the  temple  belong  to  the  heavenly  choir !  How  plea- 
sant, when  the  absent  husband  can  think  of  home,  and  reflect  that 
angels  watch  the  place,  that  they  may  guard  the  interest  and  the 
health  of  his  heaven-born  companion,  and  the  children  of  the  cove- 
nant !  When  about  to  leave  her  a  widow,  and  commit  to  her  ex- 
clusive care  his  helpless  offspring,  how  consoling,  if  her  character 
is  such,  that  she  can  lean  upon  the  widow's  God,  and  put  her  chil- 
dren under  the  guardianship  of  Him  who  is  a  Father  of  the  father- 
less !  Then  he  quits  the  world  calm  and  happy,  supported  by  the 
hope  that  he  shall  meet  their  mother  and  them  all  in  heaven. 

Religion  has  a  peculiar  sweetness  when  it  mingles  with  the 
modest  softness  of  the  female  character.     So  the  dew-drop  bor- 
.  rows  beauty  and  fragrance  from  the  rose. 

Females  need  the  comforts,  the  hopes,  and  the  prospects  of  re- 
ligion, more,  if  possible,  than  the  other  sex.  Subjected  peculiarly 
to  the  trials  of  disobedience,  and  the  weakness  of  a  feebler  consti- 
tution, their  state,  when  raised  by  improvement,  and  propped  with 


THE    WISE    BUILDER.  211 

Christian  consolations,  is  still  a  state  of  subjection  and  pain.  Sup- 
pose one  of  your  number  yoked  to  a  husband  of  acid  temper,  and 
the  prey  of  disappointment  and  disease,  where,  but  from  heaven, 
does  there  dawn  upon  her  one  beam  of  light.  But  if  she  can  look 
upward  and  descry  a  place  of  rest  when  the  toils  of  life  are  fin- 
ished ;  a  home  where  she  may  be  happy,  a  friend  who  will  ever  be 
kind,  and  a  nature  raised  above  fatigue,  and  pain,  and  death — then, 
while  the  pains  of  living  are  softened  by  the  hope  of  dying,  and 
earth  blotted  out  by  the  glories  of  heaven,  she  can  exercise  patience 
and  submission  till  the  time  appointed  for  her  release.  Thus  re- 
ligion fills  the  cup  with  pleasure  that  was  full  of  gall,  converts  the 
veriest  hovel  into  a  palace,  and  adapting  the  spirit  to  its  lodgment, 
makes  it  happy.  Thus  the  hope  of  heaven,  if  that  hope  were  a 
dream,  smoothes  her  passage  to  the  tomb,  and  renders  religion 
essential  to  her  happiness.  , 

Thus  I  have  enumerated  some  of  the  qualifications  of  a  wise 
woman.  To  obtain  them  will  require  much  pains  and  many  sacri- 
fices, but,  when  acquired,  they  are  worth  more  than  worlds.  And 
if  time  may  be  spent,  and  pains  endured,  and  ease,  and  health,  and 
even  life,  sacrificed  to  acquire  riches,  which  at  the  best  are  poor, 
uncertain,  and  unsatisfying  ;  may  not  more  pain  be  endured,  and 
greater  sacrifices  be  made  in  acquiring  that  wisdom  that  will  ren- 
der us  happy  in  life,  in  death,  and  forever. 

Were  this  our  only  state,  intellectual  improvement  would  lose 
more  than  half  its  value  :  but  we  are  to  live  forever ;  and  the  pre- 
sent state  is  preparatory  to  a  future.  This  is  but  the  infancy  of 
our  being,  and  the  mind  is  our  better  part,  and  is  capable  of  indefi- 
nite enlargement.  The  more  enlarged,  the  happier  will  be  our 
state  in  heaven,  and  it  may  be  our  lot  to  grow  in  knowledge  for 
ever.  Such  are  our  ideas  of  that  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory  promised  believers  in  the  coming  world. 

The  base  suggestion,  that  as  the  female  is  confined  at  home  she 
needs  no  intellectual  improvement,  has  long  since  been  repelled. 
She  may  pass  through  life  alone ;  shall  she  become  the  prey  of  the 
first  villain  that  may  wish  to  rob  her  of  her  rights  1  And  if  united 
to  a  husband,  is  it  not  most  desirable  that  she  be  capable  of  being 
his  help-meet  1  The  laws  of  many  of  our  states,  have  wisely 
directed  that  the  daughter  share  equally  with  her  brother  in  the 
estate  of  the  father  ;  and  shall  she  not  be  capable  of  managing  her 
own  interest  ? 

Mothers  who  have  not  had  the  advantages  which  their  cfaughters 
now  have  for  improvement,  will  join  me  in  these  remarks,  and  will 


212  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

urge  their  daughters  to  husband  well  their  opportunities,  and  take 
a  high  and  dignified  station  in  the  grade  of  being.     But  I  proceed 

II.  To  show  that  a  wise  woman  buildeth  her  house.  The  lan- 
guage is  figurative,  the  house  being  expressive  of  the  family. 
Hence,  to  build  her  house,  is  to  promote  the  best  good  of  her  hus- 
band and  her  offspring.  It  would  be  very  easy  to  show,  in  a  vari- 
ety of  particulars,  how  the  influence  of  a  wise  woman  must  sub- 
serve this  object.  We  are  not  afraid  to  inquire,  in  the 

1  Place — How  such  a  woman  will  affect  their  estate.  On  this 
subject  I  remark  she  will  not  render  them  poor.  Her  refined  feel- 
ings, and  ardent  piety,  may  expend  something  in  charity.  But 
this  will  not  diminish  their  wealth,  for  "  The  liberal  soul  shall  be 
made  fat."  If  she  should  perform  less  manual  labor  than  some 
others,  her  prudence  and  economy  will  make  amends,  and  more 
than  amends  for  the  loss  sustained.  Her  wisdom  will  save  more 
than  her  hands  could  earn.  Not  always  does  the  woman  who  can 
perform  the  most  labor  increase  most  her  husband's  estate.  Some 
have  labored  for  ever  and  yet  have  made  their  families  poor  because 
ignorant  of  domestic  economy.  Hard  labor  is  sometimes  asso- 
ciated with  wasteful  extravagance.  A  wise  woman  will  not  waste 
her  husband's  estate  in  extravagant  dress  and  ornaments.  These 
are  more  generally  the  marks  of  a  small  mind,  and  a  bad  taste. 
Those  who  are  first  in  the  fashion  are  sometimes  last  at  the  library, 
and  perhaps  are  never  there. 

But  if  her  books  and  her  charities  should  draw  upon  her  hus- 
band's estate,  still  such  a  sister,  such  a  wife,  such  a  mother,  is  an 
invaluable  blessing.  "  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance 
of  the  things  which  he  possesseth."  Of  what  value  are  riches  but 
to  buy  comforts.  And  why  not  spend  some  of  our  wealth  to  feed 
the  mind! 

But  I  have 'hinted,  that  it  is  not  by  mere  dint  of  labor  that  the 
wife  performs  her  part  in  the  accumulation  of  estate.  Possessed 
of  an  improved  mind,  there  are  a  variety  of  ways  in  which  she 
can  advance  the  interests  of  her  family.  She  can  help  her  husband 
lay  his  plans,  can  teach  his  children,  can  draw  him  back  from  liti- 
gation, can  guide  his  concerns  in  his  absence,  expend  to  advantage 
the  fruits  of  his  industry — and,  in  ways  innumerable,  increase  their 
mutual  interest,  accommodation,  and  comfort. 

2.  She  will  render  her  family  respectable.  This  is  the  meaning 
of  that  remark  of  the  wise  man,  when,  speaking  of  the  virtuous 
ivoman,  he  says,  "  Her  husband  is  known  in  the  gates,  when  he 


THE    WISE    BUILDER. 


213 


sitteth  among  the  eiders  of  the  land."  He  will  imbibe  from  her 
good  impressions  of  character,  and  may  rise,  through  her  unnoticed 
influence,  to  a  commanding  respectability.  How  often  are  child- 
ren regarded  with  attention  on  account  of  their  mother.  This 
alone  has  often  introduced  them  to  the  best  of  families.  How  it 
honored  Timothy  that  his  mother  and  grandmother  could  be  so 
respectably  mentioned !  And  how  it  reproaches  Ahaziah  when 
said,  that  "  His  mother  was  his  counsellor  to  do  wickedly."  It  is 
probably  true  that  the  mother  does  more  to  give  her  house  its  cha- 
racter than  the  father.  And  not  unfrequently  does  the  wise 
woman  entail  respectability  to  her  children's  children. 

3.  She  will  render  her  family  happy.  She  will  so  manage  as  not 
to  irritate  their  passions,  she  will  concentrate  their  wishes,  and 
identify  their  interest.  Her  frown  will  suppress  every  quarrel,  or 
rather  her  wisdom  will  prevent  the  evil.  Her  example  will  breathe 
through  the  house  a  mild  and  soft  atmosphere,  that  will  soothe 
every  passion.  While  her  wisdom  will  enlighten  them  ;  her  indus- 
try will  make  them  love  employ  ;  her  subordination  to  her  hus- 
band, wiL  subject  them  to  her  authority ;  her  prudence  will  render 
them  discreet,  her  sympathy  will  render  them  compassionate,  and 
her  active  benevolence  teach  them  charity.  Her  softness  will 
sweeten  their  manners,  her  gentleness  render  them  mild,  her  cour- 
tesy render  them  respectful,  her  ingenuousness  render  them  hon- 
est, and  her  discretion  teach  them  caution.  Her  modesty  will 
make  them  unassuming,  her  uprightness  render  them  just,  her  ten- 
derness make  them  affectionate ;  and  we  cannot  but  hope  that  her 
religion  will  render  them  pious. 

There  is  no  resisting  the  combined  influence  of  so  many  virtues. 
And  what  she  cannot  do  by  her  precepts,  and  her  examples,  she 
effects  by  her  prayers.  She  will  often  carry  them  in  her  arms  to 
heaven,  and  commit  them  to  his  care  who  can  sway  the  heart. 
This  done,  she  will  have  a  powerful  hold  upon  their  consciences. 
While  they  respect  her  and  love  her,  they  will  be  ashamed  and 
afraid  to  offend  her.  She  will  train  up  their  consciences  to  respect 
her  laws,  and  her  government  will  not  be  limited  by  her  presence. 
I  knew  a  case  when  the  son  was  afraid  to  disobey  the  mother,,  even 
when  she  could  never  have  known  of  the  disobedience.  By  thus 
laying  restraint  upon  the  conscience  a  wise  woman  will  extend  her 
influence  to  unborn  generations.  She  will  generate  consciences 
like  her  own,  to  operate  when  hers  is  released  from  its  labors. 
Her  mantle,  as  she  ascends  to  heaven,  will  fall  upon  her  children, 
who  will  live  to  prolong  her  memory  and  build  her  house. 


214  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

And  while  the  wise  woman  will  thus  bless  her  own  family,  she 
will  extend  a  happy  influence  to  others.  And  yet  all  the  good  she 
does  from  home  will  recoil  upon  her  own  head.  There  will  be  a 
reaction  that  will  bless  her  own  house.  Her  kindness,  her  hospi- 
tality, her  sympathy,  her  alms,  and  her  prayers,  will  return  into 
her  own  bosom.  While  she  scatters  blessings,  they  will  accumu- 
late at  home.  While  she  prays  for  others,  many  prayers  will  be 
offered  for  her  and  her  family.  While  she  feeds  the  poor,  poverty 
will  desert  her  doors.  While  she  sends  the  gospel  to  the  heathen, 
her  own  children  will  begin  to  live :  thus  "  she  that  tarries  at  home 
will  divide  the  spoil."  She  generates  a  light  to  shine  into  distant 
lands,  and  the  reflected  beams  illumine  her  own  habitation.  And 
when  she  is  dead,  generations  unborn  will  read  upon  her  tomb, 
"  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed." 

REFLECTIONS. 

1.  Females  see  how  they  are  to  rise  in  the  scale  of  being.  Their 
state  has  always  been  a  state  of  subordination,  and,  in  some  coun- 
tries, incredibly  servile.  The  gospel  emancipates  them.  But  even 
in  gospel  lands  they  have  never  risen  so  high  as  they  may.  And 
they  must  rise  by  increasing  in  wisdom.  When  the  sun  would 
break  the  bars  of  winter  he  does  it  by  a  mild  and  gentle  influence. 
He  does  not  summon  all  his  fires,  and  storm  the  castle  of  winter 
with  lightnings.  He  merely  shines,  and  the  habitations  of  ice  and 
frost  feel  and  are  melted  by  his  beams.  So  the  female  sex  must 
soften  the  roughness  and  thaw  the  coldness  of  the  other  sex,  by 
constant  and  lucid  exhibitions  of  wisdom  and  goodness.  Men  can- 
not be  scolded  into  compassion,  nor  can  resist  the  melting  influ- 
ence of  distinguished  and  gentle  goodness. 

%.  You  see  the  importance  of  supporting  good  schools.  If  your 
daughters  are  to  become  wise,  and  help  you  build  your  house, 
there  must  be  a  nursery  provided  where  they  may  grow.  They 
must  have  able  teachers,  and  leisure  for  the  acquisition  of  science. 
On  this  important  subject  the  public  pulse  still  beats  too  low.  We 
cannot  rear  a  wise  generation  without  expense,  care,  and  time. 

3.  We  see  the  importance  of  the  gospel.  In  its  absence  there 
would  be  nothing  left  that  the  wise  and  good  could  value.  And 
females,  although  they  have  no  vote  in  society,  have'  always  ex- 
erted a  kind  influence  in  its  support.  But  for  them,  many  a  dis- 
trict in  Zion  had  been  laid  waste.  And  they,  in  the  mean  time, 
promote  their  own  mercies  ;  for  the  moment  the  gospel  abandon? 
a  people  females  lose,  in  a  great  degree,  their  influence,  their  re 


THE    WISE    BUILDER.  215 

spectability,  and  their  comfort :  while,  under  its  benign  influence, 
they  are  wise,  respectable,  and  happy.  Hence  all  heathen  lands, 
and  other  countries  in  proportion  to  their  ignorance  of  the  gospel, 
are  marked  with  the  degradation  of  the  female  sex. 

4.  How  important  that  females  make  the  Scriptures  their  study. 
This  is  the  book  that  must  form  their  characters,  and  render  them 
wise  and  good.     This,  friends,  is  your  guide  to  honor,  happiness, 
and  heaven.-   Make  it  the  man  of  your  counsel,  the  constant  com- 
panion of  your  solitude,  the  furniture  of  your  nursery,  the  subject 
of  your  morning  and  evening  study  ;  and  it  will  prove  the  nurse 
of  your  childhood,  the  monitor  of  your  youth,  the  light  of  your 
feet,  and  the  lamp  of  your  way;  till  at  length,  matured  in  its  doc- 
trines, and  habituated  to  its  duties,  it  will  be  your  stay  in  death, 
and  your  law  in  heaven. 

5.  But,  in  order  to  all  this,  you  must  be  born  again.    No  woman 
can  be  wise  and  not  pious.     If  you  die  unsanctified,  you  will  feel 
yourself  to  be  a  fool  at  the  last,  though  possessed  of  every  other 
native  and  acquired  excellence. 

The  wife  can  be  the  means  of  rendering  her  husband  happy  or 
wretched,  now  and  for  ever.  To  make  him  happy,  let  the  conjugal 
affection  be  strong  and  tender.  Let  your  bosom  friend  discover 
in  you  a  cheerful  and  unwearied  attention  to  his  wants,  a  charity 
that  can  hide  his  faults,  a  patience  that  can  endure  his  roughness, 
a  meekness  that  can  soothe  his  passions,  and  a  piety  that  can  la- 
ment his  sins.  Let  him  know  that  you  have  neither  interest  nor 
character  distinct  from  his ;  that  your  hopes  are  one,  your  joys 
one,  your  tears  one,  and  your  cares  one.  Then  you  touch  every 
tender  string  of  his  heart ;  he  becomes  kind  to  you  and  attentive 
to  the  gospel.  And  you  may  be  the  means  of  bringing  him  to 
heaven.  It  is  a  rare  ease,  when  the  husband  is  in  no  degree  under 
the  influence  of  his  partner.  Let  that  influence  then  be  used  in 
rendering  him  holy  and  happy.  Then,  when  the  conjugal  tie  is 
sundered,  you  may  hope  to  rise  together,  and  be  kindred  spirits 
for  ever,  and  feel  a  warmer  and  still  warmer  attachment  through 
all  the  years  of  heaven. 

If  you  are  passing  through  life  alone ;  or,  if  death  has  severed 
the  cords  that  bound  a  husband's  heart  to  yours,  and  Ao  beloved 
children  engross  your  cares,  then  is  there  a  miserable  world  that 
needs  your  blessing.  You  can  be  peculiarly  useful  in  making  a 
little  verdant  spot  around  you,  by  using  the  means  of  grace  on  all 
about  you,  and  urging  upon  them  the  considerations  of  life  and 
glory,  and  in  spreading  abroad  the  knowledge  of  God.  You  can 


216  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

exert  an  influence  which  shall  wake  the  energies  of  a  sleeping  gen- 
eration. You  can  rouse  to  benevolent  exertion,  and  concentrate 
the  streams  of  charity,  that  flow  to  fertilize  the  wastes  of  a  ruined 
world. 

But  the  duty  of  mothers,  is,  if  possible,  still  greater.  Immortal 
beings  are  committed  to  your  care,  perhaps  to  be  saved  or  lost  by 
your  influence.  They  already  feel  the  effects  of  your  example, 
and  will  probably  feel  them  more  and  more  for  ever.  From  you, 
rather  than  the  father,  or  any  other  being  on  earth,  they  will  take 
their  character.  You  can  render  them  idle,  ungovernable,  selfish, 
and  malevolent.  You  can  teach  them  to  be  covetous,  proud,  en- 
vious, censorious,  unkind,  and  inhospitable.  You  can  form  them 
to  a  character  hated  of  men,  and  detested  of  angels  and  of  God. 
Oh !  none  like  you  can  qualify  them  for  everlasting  burnings.  Or 
you  can  teach  them  industry,  subordination,  and  benevolence  ;  can 
make  them  generous,  modest,  prudent,  kind,  and  hospitable  :  can* 
with  the  promised  blessing,  form  them  to  a  character  approved  of 
men,  and  lovely  to  angels  and  to  God.  Oh !  none  like  you  can 
qualify  them  to  live  in  heaven.  God  has  given  you  that  influence, 
that  authority,  that  affection  and  access,  which  places  your  off- 
spring at  your  disposal.  To  whom  will  they  listen,  when  they  will 
not  hear  the  voice  of  a  mother  1  When  her  government  is  despis- 
ed, who  shall  control  them  1  Who  shall  love  them  sufficiently  to 
teach  them,  when  maternal  affection  cools  I  Who  shall  find  access 
to  their  consciences  and  their  hearts,  when  barred  against  the  ap- 
proach of  a  mother  1  Mother !  the  name  is  very  sweet.  In  all 
the  majesty  of  maternal  love,  she  can  sit  down  by  the  heart  and 
conscience  of  her  child,  and  shape,  and  mould,  and  temper  it  al- 
most to  her  pleasure.  The  world  can  be  excluded,  and  every  pas- 
sion hushed  to  calmness,  by  her  maternal  sweetness  and  authority; 
while  in  the  midst  of  the  calm,  she  can  teach  them  divine  wisdom, 
fire  them  with  benevolent  affections,  and  give  their  minds  a  high 
and  heavenly  aspect. 

How  pleasant,  when  the  mother  may  teach  her  own  child.  If 
common  benevolence  can  make  it  pleasant  to  teach  another^s  chil- 
dren, how  delightful  the  work,  when  there  is  joined  to  this  bene- 
volence the  strong,  instinctive,  maternal  affection.  Who,  if  the 
mother  will  not,  shall  teach  the  child  to  pray,  and  lead  it  on  in  the 
way  to  heaven.  May  she  depend  on  a  stranger,  who  lacks  the  in- 
stinctive stimulus'?  We  must  not  forget  that  our  dear  childrdn 
are  depraved,  and  will  choose  the  way  to  death ;  are  in  a  world  full 


THE    WISE    BUILDER.  217 

of  temptations,  and  must  inevitably  perish  if  permitted  to  pursue 
their  own  course. 

Mothers,  it  may  be,  that  your  children  are  fatherless,  and  are 
committed  to  your  exclusive  care.  To  you  it  is  left,  to  stamp  the 
last  impress  of  character,  and,  by  your  example  and  influence,  fix 
the  destiny  of  your  husband's  children.  A  voice,  while  I  address 
you,  issues  from  their  graves,  urging  me  to  my  duty,  and  you  to 
yours.  What  would  be  their  language,  if  your  deceased  husbands 
could  appear  in  this  assembly.  Would  they  not  with  all  the  elo- 
quence, which  death,  and  the  grave,  and  heaven,  and  hell  can  in- 
spire, say  to  the  mothers  of  their  children,  "  Oh,  teach  my  offspring 
the  way  to  heaven !  Keep  them  from  the  paths  of  the  destroyer. 
My  voice  cannot  reach  them ;  you  must  do  for  them  what  I  neg- 
lected. Farewell,  we  shall  meet  soon."  What  an  overbearing 
eloquence  would  there  be  in  an  address  like  this ! 

And,  while  the  father  lives^  it  is  especially  the  mother's  province 
to  form  the  character  of  her  daughters.  You  must  lead  them  on 
to  character,  to  happiness,  and  heaven.  They  wait  to  have  you 
offer  them  your  hand,  they  prize  your  counsel,  and  tremble  at  the 
prospect  of  passing  this  friendless  world  without  a  mother's  in- 
struction. Let  them  mingle  with  you,  and  form  their  characters 
under  your  eye,  that  they  may  have  profit  from  your  advice,  and 
may  find  you  their  guardian  in  the  hour  of  temptation.  If  years 
have  taught  you  any  thing  of  truth  and  duty,  let  that  knowledge, 
like  your*  estates,  accumulate  in  its  descent.  Then  every  genera- 
tion would  be  wiser,  the  mother  would  live  again  in  her  children, 
and  soon  from  one  such  parent,  there  would  spring  a  whole  church, 
whose  holy  principles  and  correct  habits,  would  exhale  a  fragrance, 
that  would  sweeten  all  the  surrounding  moral  atmosphere. 

I  know,  that  in  order  to  all  this  the  mother  must  be  hersejf  a 
disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  She,. who  traverses  the  broad 
way,  cannot  conduct  her  offspring  to  heaven.  She  may  put  the 
Bible  into  their  hands,  but  her  example  will  teach  them  to  doubt 
its  doctrines,  and  hate  its  duties ;  and  one  may  easily  presume 
which  they  will  believe.  And  yet  some  of  your  children  may  be 
saved,  and  you  perish.  The  covenant  of  God  may  bind  them  to 
a  pious  ancestry,  and  he  may  remember  his  covenant,  and  save 
them,  while  a  parent  is  lost. 

But,  as  many  of  my  hearers  are  youth,  part  of  my  address  should 
be  to  them.  Precious,  beyond  all  computation,  is  the  present  pe- 
riod of  your  life.  Your  prospect  is  now  joyful,  but  bye-and-bye 
the  retrospect  will  place  some  gloomy  shades  in  the  picture.  It  i? 
28 


218  THE    WISE    BUILDER. 

but  honest  to  acquaint  you,  that  you  have  embarked  upon  a  deceit- 
ful sea.  The  present  is  calm,  but  soon  probably  your  course  will 
lead  you  athwart  the  storm.  There  are  trials  between  you  and  the 
grave,  and  I  name  them  merely  to  turn  your  attention  to  another 
object.  I  would  point  you  to  a  world  where  there  are  no  trials; 
and,  if  you  would  ever  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  world,  you  must 
now  direct  your  eye  upward.  There  is  a  day  of  grace,  and  you 
now  enjoy  that  day,  but  there  follows  it  a  moment,  when  God 
abandons  the  gospel  abuser  forever ;  and  he  does  not  always  destroy 
as  soon  as  he  abandons.  "  They  are  joined  to  their  idols,  let  them 
alone." 

The  most  important  period  of  the  season  of  grace,  is  its  vernal 
years.  This  period  improved,  you  are  saved ;  but,  misimproved, 
your  state  is  worse.  And  some  of  you  are  already  crossing  that 
line,  beyond  which  your  salvation,  if  yet  unregenerate,  will  be 
less  probable.  How  dreadful  to  go  down  into  the  vale  of  years 
without  a  Savior,  a  promise,  or  a  hope  of  everlasting  life.  A  dark 
cloud  will  then  eclipse  your  sun,  a  cloud,  in  which  there  will  be 
painted  no  arch  of  promise.  Then  stupidity  will  increase  upon 
you,  while  every  sermon,  and  every  Sabbath  will  but  mature  your 
character  for  the  judgment.  Gray  hairs  will  but  testify  to  your 
revolving  years,  and  perhaps  neglect  of  means,  to  your  increased 
stupidity ;  till  finally,  the  tempter  may  assure  you  that  your  day 
of  grace  is  over.  Oh,  reach  not  that  gloomy  period  till  an  ever- 
lasting covenant  unites  you  to  a  Redeemer. 

If  already  you  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  there  opens  before 
you  a  vast  field  of  usefulness.  The  dying  and  the  dead  are  all 
around  you.  I  will  not  suppose  it  possible,  that  you  can  be  want- 
ing in  respect  and  attention  to  your  aged  parents.  You  will  make 
it,  I  hope,  a  prime  concern,  to  aid  them  on  to  heaven.  If  you  see 
your  associates  verging  on  to  ruin,  you  will  warn  them,  and  pray 
for  them,  and  by  your  example  and  influence  endeavor  to  bring 
them  with  you  to  heaven. 

You  are  to  exert  a  mighty  influence  upon  the  rising  generation. 
The  other  sex  will  receive  a  bias  from  your  example,  and,  aiming 
to  be  what  you  approve,  will  owe  much  of  their  character  to  your 
sentiments  and  influence.  If  you  make  it  your  own  object  to  be 
holy,  and  to  reach  heaven,  they  will  accompany  you. 

It  will  be  your  duty,  and  I  hope  your  pleasure,  to  aid  all  the  ope- 
rations of  benevolence,  especially  the  propagation  of  gospel  light. 
This  is  a  work  in  which  your  sex  have  a  special  interest.  You 
owe  your  freedom,  your  influence,  'and  all  your  comforts  to  the 


THE    WISE    BUILDER.  219 

gospel.  Advance  a  single  furlong  beyond  its  light,  and  you  find 
the  female  sex  in  a  state  of  perpetual  servitude,  treated  like  beasts 
of  burden,  and  secluded  from  all  the  joys  of  civil  and  social  life. 
Could  they  but  know  the  blessings  that  fall  to  your  lot,  and  the 
reason  why  they  are  so  oppressed  and  miserable,  they  would  raise 
a  cry  for  the  gospel  loud  and  eloquent  as  the  shrieks  of  death.  They 
would  not  rest  till  they  could  place  in  the  hands  of  their  oppress- 
ors, that  volume,  which  is  the  charter  of  your  liberties.  Then  they, 
too,  would  be  free,  respected,  and  happy. 

These  facts  have  helped  to  wake  the  daughters  of  Zion  to  their 
duty,  and  I  trust  will  keep  them  awake,  till  the  light  of  revelation 
has  shined  into  every  dark  place  of  the  earth,  and  the  principles  it 
generates  have  rescued  every  daughter  of  the  apostacy  from  her 
prison  and  her  chains.  I  have  no  fears  that  you  will  not  act  your 
part  in  this  humane  and  Christian  enterprise. 

Females  have  succored  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  Savior  himself  testified  to  their  kindness,  and,  as  we  all  re- 
member, found  beloved  friends  in  the  sisters  of  Lazarus,  and  a  very 
pleasant  home  in  their  house.  And  after  him  the  apostles,  and  af- 
ter them  all  who  have  proclaimed  the  gospel,  have  lived  upon  their 
charities,  and  been  supported  by  their  sympathies  and  their  prayers. 
All  this  is  said  without  design  to  flatter.  I  should  be  unworthy 
the  office  of  a  minister,  if  any  such  motives  could  move  me.  May 
that  gospel,  which  you  thus  support  in  your  kindness  to  its  minis- 
try, be  the  means  of  your  salvation  !  May  none  of  you  abuse  its 
blessings,  and  thus  fail  of  the  glory  it  reveals !  And,  when  the 
Son  of  Man  shall  come  the  second  time,  without  sin  unto  salva- 
tion, may  you  be  among  the  first  to  shout,  "  This  is  the  Lord,  we 
have  waited  for  him,  and  he  will  save  us :  this  is  the  Lord,  we 
have  waited  for  him :  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  his  salvation," 


SERMON    XVII. 
THE  CONTROVERSY  SETTLED. 

2  COR.  v.  20. 
Be  ye  reconciled  to  God. 

To  the  whole  human  family  it  is  an  eternal  disgrace  that  such  a 
sentence  should  be  found  written  in  the  book  of  God.  A  creature 
unreconciled  to  God !  Living,  too,  upon  his  bounty,  subject  to 
his  control,  completely  in  his  hands,  and  exposed  to  his  wrath ! 
Does  there  live  a  man  who  cannot  be  pleased  with  infinite  beauty, 
with  perfect  rectitude  ;  who  is  at  variance  with  the  God  of  hea- 
ven. How  has  it  come  to  pass  that  a  creature  of  God  has  made 
himself  so  base  1  Was  he  born  thus  depraved,  or  has  he,  since  his 
birth,  transformed  his  soul  into  the  image  of  hell  1  Alas !  my 
readers,  we  are  constantly  reminded  of  that  sad  hour  when  the 
tempter  prevailed,  and  our  first  parents  fell.  That  was  a  horridly 
guilty  hour.  Not  only  did  they  ruin  themselves,  but  all  their  race. 
They  were  destined  to  the  curse  of  begetting  children  in  their 
own  likeness,  not  guilty  of  their  sins,  but  like  them  inclined 
to  iniquity,  exposed  to  temptation  and  ruin.  There  is  now  born  a 
wretched  rac'e,  who  as  soon  as  they  breathe,  rebel.  Why  1  they 
can  offer  no  reason.  Infinite  excellence  is  found  in  God,  is  seen 
in  his  law,  and  exhibited  in  his  providence.  And  is  there  through- 
out our  province  a  general  revolt  1  Are  there  none  who  have  not 
become  rebels  1  As  God  is  true,  there  are  none.  A  precious  few 
have  become  reconciled  to  him,  and  are  now  approximating  toward 
a  state  of  purity,  and  joy,  and  blessedness.  But  even  yet  we  can 
can  cast  our  eye  abroad,  and  see  our  world  filled  with  rebels. 
What  will  be  the  issue,  God  knows,  and  he  has  told  us.  Those 
that  are  not  reconciled  to  him  must  die  ;  those  that  are,  shall  re- 
ceive the  smiles  of  God  for  ever.  The  infinite  God  has  himself 
contrived  a  way  to  pardon  the  rebel,  and  yet  secure  his  own  honor. 

In  pursuing  this  subject,  /  shall  show  that  sinners  are  in  a  state 
of  hostility  with  God,  while  he  is  kindly  disposed  toward  them.  I  shall 
then  inquire  whether  there  be  aay  just  cause  for  these  hostile  feelings 
toward  God.  I  shall  then  state  the  terms  on  which  the  sinner  can  be 


THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED.  221 

reconciled,  and  offer  some  motives  why  the  reconciliation  should  take 
place. 

I.  I  a"m  to  show  that  sinners  are  in  that  state  of  hostility  with 
God,  while  he  is  kindly  and  graciously  disposed  toward  them. 

In  proving  these  points  I  shall  make  my  appeal  to  Scripture  and 
fact.  The  hostile  disposition  of  sinners  toward  God  is  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  "  The  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God."  Sinners  rob  God  and  fight  against  him,  and 
say  to  him,  "  Depart  from  us ;  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy 
ways."  "  The  rulers  take  counsel  together  against  the  Lord,  and 
against  his  anointed,  and  exert  themselves  to  break  their  bands 
asunder,  and  cast  away  their  cords  from  them."  In  the  survey 
which  God  took  of  earth,  he  found  that  all  had  "  gone  out  of  the 
way,  and  had  become  filthy ;  there  were  none  that  did  good,  no, 
not  one."  All  this  looks  like  general  and  open  revolt.  It  is  im- 
possible to  give  these  texts,  and  much  more  of  the  same  book, 
such  an  interpretation  that  they  shall  not  teach  us  the  doctrine 
that  sinners  are  hostile  to  God. 

Let  us  now  make  our  appeal  to  facts.  As  men  show  how  they 
feel  toward  each  other  by  the  manner  in  which  they  treat 'every 
person  and  thing  that  relates  to  the  other,  so  impenitent  men 
show  how  they  feel  toward  God  by  the  manner  in  which  they 
treat  those  persons  and  things  that  relate  to  God. 

Let  our  firfet  inquiry  then  be,  How  have  sinners  treated  the  Son 
of  God  1  He  ventured  to  come  down,  and  put  himself  in  the 
power  of  man.  And  was  ever  another  man  so  cruelly  treated  1 
The  world  united  in  praying  him  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts. 
They  rose  against  him,  as  if  he  had  been  an  assassin  or  a  robber. 
They  glutted  their  revenge  with  his  blood.  They  could  not  rest 
till  they  had  nailed  him  to  a  tree.  And  yet  their  consciences  pro- 
nounced him  innocent. 

If  any  suppose  that  Christ  would  not  now  be  treated  so,  were 
he  on  earth,  it  is  no  doubt  their  unhappiness  to  make  one  of  three 
grand  mistakes.  They  either  suppose  that  Christ  is  now  better 
treated  than  he  was  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  which  is  not  true ;  or 
they  suppose  that  human  nature  is  not  now  so  depraved  as  then, 
which  is  false ;  or  they  have  brought  themselves  to  believe  that  a 
more  improved  state  of  civilization  has  tamed  the  ferocity  of  the 
carnal  mind. 

Now,  how  can  we  account  for  it,  that  Christ  should  be  treated 
so  unkindly  by  men,  except  by  admitting  the  principle  that  sinners 


222  THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED. 

are  in  a  state  of  hostility  with  God,  and  hence  as  Christ  was  the 
image  of  the  invisible  God,  they  made  him  the  object  of  their 
scorn  and  hatred.  In  treating  him  thus,  they  showed  how  they 
felt  toward  God. 

Let  us  now  inquire,  how  sinners  treat  the  people  of  God.  Au- 
thentic history  informs  us  that  in  every  age  since  there  was  a 
Christian  on  earth,  they  have  been  subjected  to  ill-treatment.  In 
apostolic  days  they  began  to  be  the  song  of  the  drunkard,  and  the 
jest  and  proverb  of  the  world.  Then,  and  ever  since,  when  hu- 
man law  did  not  impose  restraint,  they  were  persecuted  to  death. 
Upon  them  have  fallen  the  united  curses  of  an  ungodly  world. 
When  wicked  men  can  meet  in  no  other  point  they  can  be  one  in 
destroying  the  Christians.  They  consider  them  as  the  common 
enemy.  Hence  thousands  of  holy  souls  have  gone  to  glory  from 
wrecks  and  dungeons. 

And  what  better  are  things  in  the  present  day  1  True,  there  is 
less  blood  spilt,  but  no  less  anger  felt,  and  no  less  pains  taken  to 
cover  them  with  infamy,  and  expose  them  to  scorn  when  they 
"live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus."  Does  not  every  day  bring  us  fresh 
testimony  of  the  hatred  of  the  wicked  against  the  saints.  If  not, 
what '  do  they  mean  by  the  common  cry  of  hypocrite  ?  Why  do 
they  take  so  much  pains  to  try  to  prove  that  Christians  are  the 
worst  men  on  earth.  Why  do  they  love  to  hear  that  they  have 
'fallen'?  Why  pleased  when  they  tarnish  their  character,  and 
wound  the  cause  of  their  Redeemer  1  Facts  like  these  prove  that 
sinners  hate  the  Christians.  And  why  is  this,  unless  because  they 
bear  the  image  of  God,  and  for  his  sake  are  hated.  At  any  rate 
they  do  bear  the  divine  image,  and  the  world  hates  them,  which 
unquestionably  proves  them  to  be  in  a  state  of  hostility  against 
God  ;  for  if  they  hate  his  image  they  hate  him. 

This  hostility  to  God  has  often  been  clearly  seen  in  a  time  of 
revival.  Then  God  increases  the  number  of  his  children,  and  en- 
rages his  foes.  True,  they  are  sometimes  overawed,  and  when 
this  is  not  the  case,  they  storm  with  rage.  They  have  exhibited 
evident  signs  of  distress  as  the  divine  shower  approached.  All 
the  means  and  instruments  by  which  a  revival  was  introduced  or 
promoted  felt  their  malice.  Indeed  the  world  has  gone  out  in  one 
united  phalanx  to  make  head  against  the  work  of  God.  They 
have  dreaded  and  opposed  a  revival  as  they  would  a  famine  or  a 
plague. 

Now,  why  all  this  I  Do  they  not  hate  a  revival  because  it 
brings  into  view  the  God  they  hate,  and  reminds  them  of  that  hea- 


THE    CONTROVERSY   SETTLED.  223 

ven  in  which  they  could  not  live.     Again,  then,  do  we  see  that 
they  are  in  a  state  of  hostility  with  God. 

The  same  hostility  is  proved  while  sinners  daily  break  the  laws 
and  oppose  the  government  of  God.  Daily  and  hourly  we  witness 
their  disregard  of  the  law,  while  they  refuse  to  shape  their  lives 
by  its  precepts,  and  yet  dare  name  the  justice  of  God  as  the  foun- 
dation of  their  immortal  hopes.  And  how  constant  are  their  com- 
plaints against  the  ways  of  Providence.  Hear  their  midnight 
murmurs,  and  see  their  vexation  and  disappointment  while  any 
adverse  event  transpires,  or  any  fond  expectation  is  disappointed. 

If  sinners  were  not  hostile  to  God,  would  they  not  love  his 
word  and  his  worship  1  Would  they  treat  with  cold  neglect  the 
book  of  God,  the  only  guide  to  everlasting  life  1  And  would  they, 
as  often  appears,  be  indifferent  to  the  praises  and  the  prayers  of 
the  temple.  Would  they  utterly  refuse,  as  they  do,  to  elect  God 
as  their  master,  or  enlist  in  his  service.  Undoubtedly  they  would 
not  try  to  prevent  others  from  serving  him,  were  they  not  hostile 
to  his  glory. 

The  maxims  which  sinners  adopt,  prove  the  existence  of  a  hos- 
tile temper.  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor,  and  hate  thine  ene- 
my." Said  Christ,  "  Love  your  enemies."  "  An  eye  for  an  eye, 
and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  Said  Christ,  "Resist  not  evil."  "Give 
me  wealth  first,  and  then  religion."  Said  Christ,  "  Seek  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness."  In  every  controversy 
let  the  offender  ask  for  reconciliation,  but  in  the  controversy  be- 
tween God  and  sinners  they  are  in  fault,  yet  God  prays  them  to  be 
reconciled.  It  is  more  blessed  to  receive  than  to  give,  is  practi- 
cally  the  maxim  of  the  world,  but,  said  Christ,  "  It  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive."  Thus  sinners  are  all  wrong.  In  all  their 
maxims  they  make  evident  opposition  to  what  is  the  mind  and 
will  of  God.  Now,  could  there  be  found  this  long  list  of  oppo- ' 
sites,  were  not  sinners  in  a  state  of  hostility  to  God  1 

And  yet  God  is  kindly  disposed  toward  them.  This  appears  in 
all  he  says,  and  in  all  he  does.  It  appears  in  his  word.  He 
there  declares  that  he  feels  kindly  toward  sinners,  and  he  there 
asks  them,  in  the  language  of  real  compassion,  "Why  will  ye 
die  V  We  learn  the  same  while  we  see  the  forbearance  of  God 
toward  sinners.  Not  until  they  have  sinned  many  years  is  he  so 
provoked  with  them  as  to  put  them  in  hell.  He  not  only  lets 
them  live  in  his  world,  but  offers  them  mercy,  and  repeats  his  in- 
vitations, and  presses  them  to  accept,  assuring  them  that  they 
shall  have  eternal  life,  if  they  will  repent  and  believe.  All  this 


:22i  THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED. 

makes  it  certain  that  God  feels  kindly  toward  sinners,  while  their 
feelings  are  so  hostile.  Let  us  then  inquire, 

II.  Whether  there  be  any  just  cause  for  these  hostile  feelings 
toward  God.  They  seem  to  say  that  God  has  done  something 
wrong.  To  the  sinner,  then,  we  must  appeal,  What  has  God  done 
to  offend?. 

His  first  interference  with  your  concerns  was  in  the  act  of  your 
creation.  Was  it  here  that  he  offended  1  True,  he  did  not  con- 
sult you  whether  you  would  be  or  not,  nor  ask  you  what  kind  of  a 
creature  you  would  choose  to  be.  It  was  his  opinion  that  you  had 
no  right  to  be  consulted  in  these  matters.  Do  you  complain  that 
God  made  you  capable  of  misery  1  Instead  of  this  it  should  be 
your  rejoicing  that  he  made  you  capable  of  happiness:  especially 
since  he  has  put  immortal  blessedness  within  your  reach,  and  so 
constituted  things  that  misery  will  not  be  yours  unless  you  choose 
death  rather  than  life.  Do  you  complain  that  you  were  not  made 
angels  1  Instead  of  this,  you  ought  to  be  thankful  that  you  were 
not  made  serpents  or  worms.  But,  "  shall  the  thing  formed  say 
unto  him  that  formed  it,  why  hast  thou  made  me  thus."  "  Hath 
not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one 
vessel  to  honor  and  another  to  dishonor."  In  the  act  of  creating, 
God  has  not  injured  you,  and  where  no  injury  is  done  there  can 
be  no  complaint. 

Ever  since  that  period  he  has  watched  over  you,  and  provided 
for  you  :  in  all  this  has  he  erred  1  For  parental  tenderness  which 
watched  your  infant  and  youthful  days,  you  are  indebted  to  God. 
He  gave  the  instinct  which  originated  a  father's  care  and  a  moth- 
er's tear.  He  formed  those  powers,  those  limbs  and  eyes,  by  which 
.you  have  defended  yourself.  Besides  all  this,  there  has  perhaps 
been  around  you  unobserved  a  guard  of  angels. 

"  What  ills  their  heavenly  care  prevents, 
No  earthly  tongue  can  tell." 

In  addition  to  all  this,  God  has  kept  his  own  eye  fixed  upon  you, 
and  has  protected  you  with  his  own  arm.  But  for  this  care  death 
awaited  you  every  step  of  your  way.  Every  particle  of  air  which 
you  have  breathed,  was  pregnant  with  death  till  he  made  it  pure. 
He  had  his  eye  on  you  in  all  your  slumbers,  and  at  his  bidding  the 
midnight  pestilence  fled,  and  the  breeze  brought  life  and  health. 
Perhaps  when  tossed  upon  the  ocean  the  waves  knew  his  voice 
and  were  still. 


THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED.  225 

He  gave  you  your  birth  in  a  goodly  land  ;  furnished  you  kind 
friends  to  smooth  your  rugged  way  through  life,  and  gave  you 
every  other  needed  comfort.  "  He  opened  his  hand,  and  your 
wants  were  all  supplied.  His  goodness  has  been  like  a  river  by 
your  side.  He  watered  your  fields  and  brought  on  your  harvests. 
He  kept  off  the  frosts,  and  ripened  your  fruits,  he  kept  off  his 
storm  and  secured  your  merchandise.  He  sent  the  gale  that  waft- 
ed India's  riches  to  your  coast.  In  all  this  did  God  offend  1 

He  gave  you  the  means  of  instruction,  that  you  might  be  wise. 
Was  this  unkind  I 

He  early  put  you  under  law  :  was  this  unkind  1  True,  the  law 
has  dreadful  penalties,  and  must  not  once  be  broken.  It  curses 
"  every  one  that  contiiweth  not  in  all  the  things  written  in  the 
book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  Whether  it  was  kind  or  not  in  God 
to  put  you  under  such  a  law  will  depend  on  whether  the  law  was 
good.  This  is  its  tenor,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  If  God  deserves  su- 
preme affection,  and  our  neighbor's  happiness  is  worth  as  much  as 
our  own,  this  is  a  good  law.  To  give  creatures  such  a  law  was 
simply  telling  them  to  be  happy.  It  was  not  only  right  that  God 
should  demand  supreme  regard,  but  best  for  creatures  that  they 
should  thus  regard  him.  And  in  that  strong  mutual  affection 
which  the  law  demands,  men  have  found  rich  ingredients  of  com- 
fort. In  demanding  that  the  law  should  in  no  one  instance  be  bro- 
ken, God  prepared  the  way  to  keep  misery  from  his  creation. 

It  is  only  by  disobeying  this  law  that  men  are  rendered  miser- 
able. But  for  this  we  had  never  heard  the  groans  of  the  dying, 
the  sighs  of  the  widow,  or  the  plaints  of  the  orphan.  Then  the 
mourning  garb  had  never  darkened  our  assemblies.  Man  had  not 
learned  to  weep,  unless  it  were  tears  of  gratitude. 

And  we  may  say  the  same  of  other  worlds.  Heaven  continues 
to  obey  the  law  of  God  and  is  happy.  Hell  has  disobeyed  and 
continues  to  disobey,  and  is  consequently  filled  with  groans 
of  despair.  And  how  many  soever  other  worlds  there  may  be, 
they  too  are  happy  or  miserable  according  as  they  have  obeyed 
or  disobeyed  the  law  of  God.  If,  then,  the  law  is  good,  and  dis- 
obeying it  has  made  us  unhappy,  what  charge  can  we  bring  against 
God  for  giving  us  such  a  law  1  The  law  was  intended  as  a  great 
bond  that  should  bind  intelligent  'creatures  to  God,  and  to  one 
another.  This  bond,  this  silver  cord  sinners  have  broken,  and  so 
have  stopped  the  communication  of  bliss  to  their  souls. 

But   my  readers,  let  this  be  the  closing  remark  on  this  point. 
29 


226  THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED. 

The  law  which  God  has  given  is  the  only  one  which  he  could 
have  given.  It  is  the  copy  of  his  heart.  He  must  have  been  a 
different  being,  and  his  creatures  must  have  sustained  different  re- 
lations to  him  and  to  one  another  before  a  different  law  could  have 
been  given.  If,  then,  sinners  have  any  charge  to  bring  against 
God  on  account  of  the  law,  the  charge  is  unreasonable  ;  they  cen- 
sure him  for  doing  what  it  was  impossible  he  should  not  do.  Is 
there,  then,  any  fault  here  I 

But  God  has  made  exertions  to  save  sinners,  is  there  here  any 
cause  for  blame  1  Has  he  not  made  the  terms  of  salvation  as 
easy  as  possible  1  Is  man,  while  he  receives  pardon,  subjected  to 
any  unnecessary  degradation  or  reproach  ^  Is  any  penance  de- 
manded very  difficult  to  perform  1  Does  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  for- 
bid the  exercise  of  reason  1  And  is  the  love  of  God  inconsistent 
with  the  exercise  of  the  natural  instincts  and  affections  1  Or  does 
religion  so  employ  the  powers  of  the  man  as  to  make  him  unhap- 
py 1  Is  not  salvation  offered  on  conditions  the  best  possible.- 
Then,  where  is  the  offence  1 

In  pressing  such  a  salvation  upon  the  sinner,  is  not  the  Deity 
kind  1  •  In  varying  and  repeating  the  invitation,  and  calling  upon 
sinners  by  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  by  alarming  events  of  pro- 
vidence, by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  by  an  awakened  conscience,  to 
turn  and  live, —  while  God  thus  stands,  and  pleads  with  a  guilty 
world  from  year  to  year,  and  from  age  to  age,  what  is  there  in  all 
this  but  kindness  1 

Would  any  be  glad, — sinners,  would  it  please  you,  could  you  be 
left  undisturbed  by  these  kind  invitations  of  the  God  of  mercy  ? 
Would  you  wish  to  go  on  till  your  destiny  was  sealed  before  the 
gospel  trump  disturbs  you  1 

Do  any  find  fault  with  God  because  he  chastises  them  1  Do  I 
hear  one  say,  God  has  torn  my  partner  from  my  bleeding  bosom, 
and  my  children,  just  as  they  began  to  entwine  my  heart  1  He 
sent  the  winds  to  sink  my  merchandise,  and  the  incendiary  to 
burn  my  dwelling.  How  can  I  love  such  a  God  ?  Did  you  ever 
thank  God  for  those  blessings'?  Did  you  ever  pray  for  their  con- 
tinuance 1  Did  you  teach  that  child  to  pray  whom  you  lately 
covered  with  the  clods  1  God  has,  then,  only  reminded  you  of 
your  sins  in  removing  these  comforts. 

Moreover,  they  were  at  first  his  gift,  or  rather,  his  loan  ;  and 
he  has  now  recalled  them,  no  sooner  than  you  had  reason  to  ex- 
pect. He  never  promised  you  that  you  should  retain  these  com- 
forts to  any  given  period.  Where,  then,  is  there  any  ground  of 


THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED.  227 

charge  against  God  1  He  has  done  more  than  he  promised  j  he 
has  been  kinder  than  you  had  any  reason  to  expect.  Where,  then, 
is  there  cause  of  offence  1 

But,  says  one,  God  has  threatened  sinners  with  everlasting  ruin, 
and  has  built  a  hell  for  them :  can  I  love  such  a  God  1  Hell  he 
built  for  the  devil  and  his  angels,  and  he  will  send  none  of  our 
race  there  who  would  be  willing  to  live  in  heaven.  All  who  pos- 
sess such  a  temper  as  would  convert  heaven  into  a  place  of  horror 
and  despair,  and  who  are  more  fit  to  be  the  companions  of  devils 
than  of  angels  and  blessed  saints, — only  these  will  be  sent  to  hell. 
And  in  the  sentence  every  holy  being  will  join,  and  the  sinner's 
own  mouth  will  then  be  shut.  Why,  then,  is  there  here  any 
ground  of  charge  against  God  1 

Thus,  through  all  that  God  has  done  and  said,  do  we  search  in 
vain  for  any  plea  that  can  support  the  sinner  in  his  revolt.  Perhaps 
in  what  he  is  a  plea  can  be  found.  "  There  clusters  in  his  name 
every  attribute  that  can  contribute  to  render  him  great  and  glori- 
ous. The  clustering  of  these  attributes  is  God."  What  attribute, 
then,  can  be  spared  from  the  cluster  1  Let  him  cease  to  be  holy, 
and  what  will  follow  1  Sin,  that  has  made  every  tear,  every  sigh, 
and  every  groan,  will  be  approved,  and  the  prince  of  devils  may 
walk  arm  in  arm  with  Gabriel.  An  infuriate  mob  from  hell  will 
soon  lay  waste  the  mansions  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

Or  let  Jehovah  cease  to  be  true,  then,  says  the  sinner,  he  would 
not  execute  his  threatenings.  No ;  nor  his  promises  !  That  blessed 
promise,  "  I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee,"  on  which 
many  a  trembling  believer  has  hung  his  dying  hope,  fails.  Every 
angel  lays  by  his  harp  and  looks  out  for  ruin.  The  holy  are  no 
longer  sure  that  they  shall  be  happy.  The  foundation  on  which 
they  stood  has  begun  to  sink,  hell  is  astonished,  and  the  universe 
is  ruined. 

Shall  Jehovah  be  no  longer  just  I  Where  then  is  the  sinner 
that  will  consent  to  be  treated  unjustly  I  Devils  would  not  consent 
to  this. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  every  Divine  attribute.  Alter  any 
one,  and  the  universe  is  all  in  tears.  No  one  dares  to  live  or  die. 
Is  it  not  best  then  that  God  continue  capable  of  government,  and 
remain  just  what  he  is  1  Thus  do  we  find  at  every  step  we  take 
that  there  is  no  fault  in  God.  No  possible  plea  can  be  found  to 
support  the  sinner  in  his  rebellion.  God  is  right,  has  spoken  and 
done  right,  but  the  sinner  is  wrong,  has  spoken  wrong,  and  done 
wrong.  I  hope,  then,  the  way  is  prepared  for  reconciliation.  But, 


228  THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED. 

III.  I  am  now  to  state  the  terms  on  which  God  will  receive  the 
sinner  to  favor. 

The  sinner  must  disapprove  of.  his  own  character  and  conduct. 
Till  he  does  this,  God  will  consider  him  in  a  state  of  hostility. 
The  sinner  must  become  vile  in  his  own  eyes  and  polluted,  in  his 
own  view.  He  must  see  and  hate  his  own  evil  passions,  and  all 
their  corrupt  fruits,  and  must  join  with  God  in  condemning  him- 
self as  a  rebel  deserving  eternal  ruin. 

When  brought  to  feel  thus  he  will  be  humble.  He  will  take  to 
himself  the  punishment  of  his  sins,  and  ascribe  righteousness  to 
his  Maker.  In  this  condition  God  will  begin  to  regard  him.  But 
this  is  not  all  that  God  will  require. 

The  sinner  must  change  his  character  and  conduct.  He  must 
have  a  different  set  of  affections,  and  must  exhibit  a  course  of  con- 
duct altogether  diverse  from  that  exhibited  in  his  former  life. 
This  will  be  saying  to  the  world,  that  he  now  approves  of  the  law 
which  he  broke,  considers  it  good,  and  the  penalty  just. 

The  only  terms  on  which  God  will  ever  receive  the  sinner  to 
favor  must  include  the  following : 

1.  He  must  unsay  all  the  hard  things  he  has  said  against  God  ; 
the  reproaches  he  has  cast  upon  his  law,  the  unholy  things  he  has 
said  against  his  people,  and  against  his  government,  and  his  king- 
dom.    All  the  hard  speeches  that  ungodly  sinners  have  made 
against  heaven,  and  all  their  trifling  about  hell,  and  the  judgment, 
and  the  quenchless  fire,  and  the  never-dying  worm,  and  ^the^  bot- 
tomless pit,  and  the  bridgeless  gulf.     All  the  contradictions  of  his 
truth,  and  all  the  gainsayings  of  the  infidel  heart — all  this  must  be 
unsaid,  must  be  taken  back.     This  is  an  indispensable  preliminary 
in  the  first  effort  at  peace.     Else  there  can  be  no  reconciliation. 
This  is  a  law  among  men.     If  men  are  at  variance  they  always 
begin  conciliation  with  concession,  and  it  must  be  thus  when  we 
deal  with  God. 

2.  When  we  have  unsaid,  we  must  undo  the  unhallowed  things 
that  we  have  done  against  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  restore  that 
which  we  have  taken  away.     If  any  are  not  aware  of  having  done 
any  thing  which  they  would  undo,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
they  have  not  made  the  first  essay  at  a  genuine  repentance.    Soon 
as  the  heart  relents  we  can  easily  find  that  there  are  a  great  many 
things  that  we  have  done  that  must  be  undone.     There  are  immor- 
tal beings,  bound  to  the  judgment,  and  whose  eternity  of  bliss  or 
of  wo  unutterable  depends  on  their  character,  and  that  character 
we  have  given,  first  or  last,  a  polluting  touch.     These  pollutions 


THE  CONTROVERSY  SETTLED.  229 

we  must  endeavor  to  wipe  off.  And  there  are  others  that  we  have 
injured — these  injuries  we  must  repair.  We  shall  find,  on  a  little 
reflection,  that  we  have,  in  a  thousand  ways,  set  in  operation  many 
engines  of  death,  which,  with  a  little  timely  care,  we  can  stop,  and 
we  must  stop  them.  All  this  is  necessary  to  the  first  beginnings 
of  the  exercise  of  a  genuine  repentance. 

3.  And  when  we  have  unsaid  and  undone  all  that  we  can  re- 
member to  have  said  and  done  against  God  and  his  kingdom,  we 
shall  find  that  we  have  entered  a  field  of  mischief  where  we  had 
been  so  many  years  putting  things  wrong,  and  the  mischief  has 
become  so  wide-spread  and  desolating,  that  it  will  require  a  whole 
lifetime  to  put  them  right  again.     What  was  said  of  the  apostles 
falsely,  that  they  turned  the  world  upside  down,  the  penitent  finds 
true  in  his  own  case.     He  has  been  scattering  fire-brands,  arrows, 
and  death,  while  he  pretended  to  be  only  in  sport. 

4.  Wherein  the  mischief  cannot  be  undone  it  can  all  be  ingenu- 
ously confessed.     If  we  confess  our  sins,  God  is  faithful  and  just 
to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness. 
Thus  we  come  upon  the  subject  of  a  gratuitous  pardon,  our  only 
nope  of  our  acceptance  with  a  gracious  and  merciful  God.     Here 
oegins^?eace,  and  hope^  and  joy,  through  a  pardoning  and  gracious 
Redeemer.     Through  his  kind  and  timely  intercessions  the  sin- 
ner's whole  debt  is  freely  forgiven,  and  God  is  reconciled. 

In  addition,  this  humiliation  and  its  correspondent  fruits,  the 
sinner,  in  order  to  pardon,  must  be  willing  to  receive  mercy.  A. 
sinner  does  not  deserve  pardon :  the  supposition  is  absurd.  He 
must  be  willing  to  be  pardoned  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  and,  after 
being  pardoned,  must  be  willing  to  be  an  everlasting  monument  of 
a  Savior's  love.  He  must  entirely  commit  his  cause  to  Christ,  as 
his  advocate,  depending  on  him  for  every  good  which  he  hopes 
for  from  a  justly  offended  God. 

These  are  the  terms.  1  am  happy  to  have  it  in  my  power  to 
add  that  Christ  is  ready  to  be  the  sinner's  friend.  He  even  be- 
seeches you  to  allow  him  to  plead  your  cause,  and  ensure  your 
acceptance  with  his  Father. 

Let  this  now  be  the  question.  Will  sinners  quit  their  rebellion 
and  turn  to  God  that  they  may  live  1  Will  they  do  it  now  1  When 
God  offers  a  sinner  pardon  there  must  be  immediate  acceptance, 
or  he  takes  the  offer  back.  The  impenitent  cannot  leave  the  place 
where  they  are,  before  it  will  be  reported  in  heaven  that  they  have 
accepted  or  rejected  the  message.  Thus  God  deals  with  us,  and 


230  THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED. 

thus  must  we  deal  with  him.  He  will  not  allow  sinners  to  despise 
his  mercy  with  impunity. 

Perhaps  some  are  thinking  about  a  reconciliation,  but  wish  to 
know  the  terms.  We  have  no  new  terms  to  propose.  You  will 
find  the  terms  in  all  your  Bibles,  and  be  assured  God  will  never 
alter  them ;  no,  never.  He  will  sooner  abandon  his  throne,  and 
consign  sun,  moon,  and  stars  to  ruin.  No  j  the  terms  are  the 
easiest,  they  are  the  best  that  a  holy  God  could  propose. 

Do  any  plead  that  their  sins  are  so  numerous  and  so  aggravated 
that  God  will  not  accept  them  1  This  plea  need  not  be  made. 
There  is  an  infinite  Savior,  and  there  is  infinite  compassion  in 
the  heart  of  God.  And  there  is  one  promise  which  throws  the 
light  of  day  on  this  subject.  "  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet  they 
shall  be  as  white  as  snow,  though  they  be  red  like  crimson  they 
shall  be  as  wool.*' 

IV.  Let  us  notice  some  of  the  motives  to  a  speedy  reconciliation, 

1.  Sinners  should  become  reconciled  to  God  because  he  is  the 
only  being  who  can  be  the  sinner 's  permanent  friend.     None  but  he 
can  comfort  you  in  adversity,  raise  your  hopes  in  the  day  of 
gloom,  or  soften  your  dying  bed.     None  but  he  can  cheer  your 
disembodied  spirit,  and  inspire  it  with  a  relish  for  the  angelic  song. 
Indeed,  be  it  a  calamity  or  not,  so  it  is  that  God  has  made  no  ob- 
ject fit  to  be  your  portion.      He  must  himself   fill    the  soul  or 
you  are  for  ever  poor. 

2.  Though  God  has  not  given  the  offence  he  makes  the  first 
overtures  of  reconciliation.     This  is  wonderful  condescension  in 
God.     He  has  no  need  of  you,  he  can  make  his  kingdom  happy 
without  you,  and  there  is  no  obligation  on  his  part  why  he  should 
thus  meet  you  with  the  offers  of  mercy.     It  is  a  matter  of  the  tru- 
est surprise  that  God  will  thus  stand  and  plead  with  his  creatures, 
is  it  not,  then,  a  reason  why  they  should  be  reconciled  1 

3.  Consider  farther,  that  God  has  removed  the  obstacles  that 
were  in  the  way  of  your  salvation :  this  should  press  your  con- 
science.    He  gave  his  own  dear  Son  to  die  that  you  might  be 
saved,  and  yet  he  be  just.     And  you  can  now  be  completely  re- 
stored to  the  Divine  favor.     From  being  a  wretched  outcast  you 
may  become  a  son  and  an  heir.     What  consideration  can  be  more 
persuasive  than  thisl     A  condemned  criminal  is  offered  all  the 
joys  of  heaven  on  becoming  reconciled  to  his  justly-offended  God. 

4.  If  sinners  do  not  become  reconciled  to  God  they  must  lie  un- 
der the  weight  of  the  curse  of  a  broken  law  for  ever.     And  eter- 


THE    CONTROVERSY    SETTLED.  231 

nity  only  can  fully  tell  how  heavy  this  curse  will  be.  You  are  en- 
treated, then,  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  by  all  that  is  terrible  in  his 
anger  ;  by  all  that  is  dreadful  in  the  thought  of  being  the  object  of 
his  wrath  for  ever ;  by  all  the  misery  that  an  immortal  soul  can 
suffer,  or  an  almighty  arm  can  inflict.  If  God  can  make  sinners 
wretched,  and  if  sin,  unrepented  of,  be  of  such  a  horrid  nature 
that  infinite  goodness  must  be  willing  to  punish  the  incorrigible 
for  ever,  then,  by  all  that  is  dreadful  in  this  thought,  sinners  are 
entreated  to  repent. 

5.  I  urge,  as  the  last  motive  why  sinners  should  immediately  be- 
come reconciled  to  God,  that  it  will  soon  be  too  late.  There  will 
come  a  day  when  the  door  of  mercy  will  be  closed  for  ever  upon 
some  unhappy  souls.  Perhaps  in  that  day  some  of  my  readers 
will  stand  without  and  raise  their  distressing  cry,  "  Lord,  Lord, 
open  unto  us."  But  the  door  can  never  be  unbarred.  He  that 
shutteth  and  no  man  openeth  will  reply,  "  I  know  you  not."  You 
will  see  Abraham  and  all  the  prophets  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
yourselves  be  rejected.  A  father,  mother,  or  sister  enters  into 
life,  and  you  are  lost.  The  very  partner  of  your  bosom  takes  her 
seat  at  the  marriage  supper,  while  you  are  not  permitted  to  taste. 
Methinks  there  will  be  scenes  exhibited  in  that  day  at  which  the 
very  angels  will  weep.  Will  sinners,  then,  attend  to  these  things, 
while  mercy  is  possible  \  Sinners  are  every  day  perishing  una- 
wares. They  are  every  Sabbath  hearing  their  last  sermon.  It 
may  be  that  some  one  is  now  reading  *this  who  has  misimproved 
many  a  sermon,  and  is  now  uttering  the  closing  sentences  of  the 
last  one  that  will  ever  disturb  his  quiet.  He  has,  perhaps,  so  near- 
ly filled  up  his  measure  of  iniquity,  that  only  a  few  drops  are 
wanting.  The  opposition  which  he  may  feel  to  this  sermon,  and 
the  resistance  he  may  make  to  the  strivings  of  the  Spirit  may  run 
his  measure  over,  and  bring  the  curse  of  his  Maker  upon  him.  It 
is  impossible  to  say  when  God  will  shut  up  his  bowels  of  compas- 
sion with  regard  to  any  sinner.  Though  he  bear  long  he  will  not 
bear  with  them  always.  He  is  holy  and  true  as  well  as  good. 
The  day  must  come  when  his  threatenings  will  be  fulfilled  as  well 
as  his  promises.  And  to  sinners  who  refuse  to  desert  the  standard 
of  revolt,  that  will  be  a  tremendous  day.  But,  since  they  will  not 
be  persuaded,  they  must  go  on  and  provoke  Divine  goodness  till 
the  curse  lights  upon  their  heads.  I  add  no  more :  I  hope  I  am  free 
from  the  blood  of  my  hearers  to-day.  It  will  be  found  >n  th^ir 
dwn  skirts. 


SERMON    XVIII. 
THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

EXODUS    III.   3. 

And  Moses  said,  I  will  now  turn  aside,  and  see  this  great  sight,  why  the  bush  is  not  burned. 

I 

MOSES  was  keeping  the  flocks  of  his  father-in-law  in  Midian  ; 
and  having  occasion  to  drive  them  to  the  desert,  to  the  borders  of 
mount  Horeb,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  in  a  flame 
of  fire  in  a  bush.  He  perceived,  that  though  the  bush  burned  with 
fire  it  was  not  consumed.  "  And  Moses  said,  I  will  now  turn  aside, 
and  see  this  great  sight,  why  the  bush  is  not  burned."  He  expect- 
ed, no  doubt,  to  see  the  bush  consumed ;  but  while  he  looked  upon 
it,  and  perceived  that  every  branch  and  every  leaf  remained  entire 
amid  the  flames,  it  naturally  awakened  his  amazement,  and  led  him 
to  turn  aside  and  view  the  wonder  with  attention.  As  he  approach- 
ed the  bush,  a  voice  issued  from  the  midst  of  the  flames,  which  bid 
him  pull  his  shoes  from  his  feet,  as  the  ground  on  which  he  trod 
was  holy.  God  now  assured  him  that  he  was  the  God  of  his  fa- 
thers, and  gave  him  his  commission  to  go  and  redeem  his  brethren 
from  bondage.  The  burning  bush,  with  God  in  the  midst  of  it, 
uninjured  by  the  flames,  represented  the  Church,  living  undimin- 
ished  in  the  midst  of  afflictions  and  persecutions.  Probably  Moses 
had  suspected  that  the  rigors  of  the  Egyptian  persecution  would 
ultimately  annihilate  the  Church.  To  remove  this  gloomy  appre- 
hension, and  encourage  him  to  accept  a  commission  for  their  eman- 
cipation, he  was  favored  with  this  vision.  In  using  this  scrap  of 
history  for  our  present  edification,  it  is  my  purpose  to  make  seve- 
ral distinct  observations. 

I.  The  Church  of  Christ  has  always  been  exposed  to  afflictions  and 
persecutions,  has  often  seemed  in  imminent  danger,  but  has  lived 
unhurt  through  every  period  of  its  long  and  bloody  conflict.  There 
has  been  a  Church  ever  since  the  conversion  of  Abel.  During  the 
period  from  the  fall  to  the  deluge  it  was  very  feeble,  and  very  small, 
and  often  persecuted.  In  the  death  of  Abel  was  fulfilled  the  pre- 
diction, "  It  shall  bruise  thy  heel."  Mention  is  made  but  of  two 
or  three  eminent  saints  during  this  period,  of  which  Enoch  was 


THE    BURNING    BUSH.  233 

one  of  the  most  distinguished.  God  so  loved  him  that  he  took 
him  to  heaven  without  seeing  death.  He  was  a  prophet,  and  plain- 
ly predicted  the  terrors  of  the  deluge  and  of  the  last  judgment. 
There  seems  to  have  been,  during  this  period,  several  times  of  re- 
vival, but  during  the  whole  the  Church  must  have  been  compara- 
tively small.  Finally  it  was  confined  to  the  family  of  Noah,  and 
seemed  about  to  become  extinct.  It  was  now  surrounded  by  a 
host  of  enemies,  and  must  have  perished,  without  some  extraor- 
dinary divine  interposition  of  its  chief  Shepherd.  Jehovah  granted 
his  people  the  help  they  needed,  and  swept  the  whole  of  that  un- 
godly world  to  perdition.  The  wondrous  means  by  which  he  res- 
cued his  people  from  the  general  ruin,  must  have  taught,  it  would 
seem,  all  future  generations,  that  destruction  awaits  the  enemies 
of  the  Church.  We  are  amazed  that  Noah  could  live  and  be  a 
preacher  of  righteousness  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  when  the 
Church  was  so  small,  and  when  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence, 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  striving  with  them  during  all  that  period  in 
vain.  But  the  covenant  promise  of  God  preserved  his  people  un- 
hurt, like  the  bush  which  was  embosomed  in  the  flame  but  not 
consumed.  In  the  family  of  Noah  God  continued  to  have  a  seed 
to  serve  him.  But  the  Church  was  soon  brought  very  low,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  calling  of  Abraham  was  almost  extinct.  We  see,  during 
this  period,  the  strong  features  of  depravity ;  and  although  the 
history  of  the  Church  is  scanty  and  general,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  it  had  to  struggle  with  afflictions  and  persecutions.  To 
promote  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  God  resolved  to  confine  it 
principally  to  one  family.  Accordingly,  Abraham  must  leave  his 
country,  and  become  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  that  his  descend- 
ants might  be  preserved  from  idolatry,  and  true  religion  live  in  his 
family  till  the  coming  of  Christ.  During  much  of  this  period  we 
find  them  an  afflicted  and  persecuted  people,  and  are  often  led  to 
wonder  at  their  preservation.  How  wonderful  was  the  escape  of 
Lot !  first  from  captivity,  and  afterwards  from  the  tempest  of  fire 
that  consumed  the  cities  of  the  plain.  How  often,  and  how  nar- 
rowly, did  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  with  their  respective  fami- 
lies, escape  being  swallowed  up  by  idolatry,  or  destroyed  by  their 
enemies.  But  they  were  a  holy  seed,  from  whom,  according  to 
the  flesh,  Christ  should  come,  and  among  whom,  till  then,  God 
would  preserve  his  Church.  Their  history  is  a  constant  scene  of 
miracles,  and  their  very  existence,  like  the  bush  that  burned  but 
was  not  consumed,  is  a  living  monument  of  God's  covenant  faith- 
fulness. When  the  patriarchal  family  had  settled  themselves  in 
30 


234  THE    BUENING    BUSH. 

Egypt,  and  Joseph  was  dead,  and  they  had  become  Pharaoh's  bond- 
men, their  ruin  seemed  inevitable  :  especially  when  the  Egyp- 
tians, jealous  of  their  increase,  and  fearful  of  their  resentment, 
made  a  decree  to  destroy  them,  we  look  upon  them  with  awful  ap- 
prehensions. But  this  very  decree,  contrary  to  its  design,  saved 
the  Church.  It  became  the  means  of  raising  up  Moses,  and  of  fur- 
nishing him  a  princely  education,  that  he  might  become  the  law- 
giver and  the  prince  of  that  injured  family.  From  his  birth  till 
he  had  the  vision  of  God  in  Horeb,  the  Jewish  family  were  indeed 
like  the  bush  that  burned  with  fire  but  was  not  consumed.  It  is 
matter  of  the  truest  amazement  that  the  Egyptians  did  not  utterly 
destroy  them,  when  they  were  so  completely  enslaved,  and  entirely 
within  the  power  of  their  masters.  But  God  had  otherwise  de- 
creed. Their  enemies  dealt  violently,  but  their  violent  dealing 
came  down  upon  their  own  pate.  Their  infamous  conduct  awaked 
the  wrath  of  heaven,  and  issued  in  their  own  ruin.  Still  their 
struggle  was  long  and  desperate.  Many  a  time  there  seemed  but 
a  step  between  the  Church  and  destruction.  On  the  banks  of  the 
Red  Sea  nothing  but  a  miracle  could  save  the  children  of  the  cove- 
nant. But  the  miracle  was  wrought,  the  sea  divided,  Israel 
escaped,  and  their  enemies  were  all  overthrown.  When  we  read 
the  history  of  their  passage  through  the  desert,  the  dangers  they 
encountered,  the  sins  they  committed,  the  judgments  they  felt, 
and  the  enemies  that  lined  their  path,  we  wonder  that  they  ever 
reached  the  promised  land.  But  God  was  in  the  midst  of  them . 
Time  could  not  wear  out  their  garments,  the  rock  watered  them, 
and  the  clouds  fed  them,  and  the  very  fowls  of  heaven  flew  to  their 
camp  to  become  their  meat.  And  when  they  entered  Canaan  we 
are  amazed  that  a  single  month  did  not  furnish  them  all  a  grave. 
That  land  was  thickly  peopled,  the  people  at  home,  and  prepared 
for  war.  That  Israel  should  be  able  to  march  through  that  land 
and  tread  down  its  mighty  population  and  ultimately  possess  it  all, 
was  a  most  surprising  exploit. 

The  history  of  that  people,  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  Christ, 
fills  the  reader  with  constant  surprise.  At  one  time  they  were 
tributary  to  one  kingdom,  then  to  another,  and  then  to  a  third,  but 
all  the  time  multiplied.  When  they  went  into  captivity  it  seemed 
impossible  but  that  the  Church  must  become  extinct.  But  they 
outlived  all  their  oppressors,  and  celebrated  the  funeral  of  every 
kingdom  that  ever  lifted  a  hand  to  vex  them.  Their  foes  perished 
by  a  perpetual  consumption,  but  the  Church  continued  unhurt  in 
the  very  centre  of  the  contagion.  True,  the  Church  finally  ran 


THE    BURNING    BUSH.  235 

low  at  the  time  of  its  transfer  from  the  family  of  Abraham  to  the 
Gentiles,  but  it  never  became  extinct.  Under  the  ministration  of 
the  Son  of  God  and  his  apostles,  the  Church  received  again  a  vast 
and  glorious  accession.  But  it  was  still  a  bush  in  the  midst  of  the 
flames,  burning  but  not  consumed.  Christ  was  crucified  for  daring 
to  be  her  friend,  and  the  apostles,  most  of  them,  spilt  their  blood 
at  her  altar.  As  religion  spread  under  the  new  dispensation,  it 
awakened  the  wrath  of  the  enemy  as  it  never  had  before.  A 
countless  army  took  the  field  for  the  destruction  of  the  rising 
Church.  Every  province  where  there  was  a  follower  of  the  Lamb, 
cursed  its  soil  with  their  blood,  till  finally  the  enemy  was  weary  of 
destroying  them.  The  facf  was  seen  and  felt,  that  every  execution 
augmented  the  number  of  believers.  They  could  slay  individuals, 
but  the  Church  itself  was  immortal. 

Pursuing  her  history,  from  the  apostolic  age  to  the  reformation, 
we  often  see  her  on  the  very  margin  of  destruction.  Under  Con- 
stantine  she  seemed  for  a  moment  to  prosper,  and  yet  his  very 
touch  was  death.  He  nursed  her  body,  but  he  starved  her  spirit, 
and  the  Church  had  almost  perished  with  him.  But  he  died,  and 
the  Church  outlived  the  boasted  immortality  of  his  sepulchre. 
Under  the  Roman  pontiffs  the  Church  almost  disappeared.  They 
polluted  her  charter,  put  out  the  fire  on  her  altars,  sealed  the  lips 
of  prayer,  and  finally  seemed  to  dig  her  grave.  But  the  Church 
had  retired  from  Rome,  and  was  living  in  the  mountains  of  Pied- 
mont. There  she  breathed,  and  bled,  and  prayed,  till  the  eventful 
period  of  the  reformation.  Then  the  Lord  graciously  lengthened 
her  cords,  and  strengthened  her  stakes.  But  for  many  years  her 
sons  paid  for  the  privilege  of  discipleship  with  their  blood.  Fires 
were  kindled  in  every  province  of  Christendom  to  consume  the 
bush.  Even  England,  now  one  of  the  fairest  provinces  of  Chris- 
tendom, fattened  her  soil  with  the  heart's  blood  of  the  saints. 

And  when  the  reformation  was  at  length  established,  the  Church 
did  not  cease  to  live  in  the  flames.  Errors  in  doctrine  and  in 
practice,  threatening  the  extinction  of  piety,  have  at  different  times 
overspread  almost  every  province  of  Christendom.  But  the  Church 
has  lived,  and  to  the  present  day  is  a  standing  monument  of  the 
power  and  the  truth  of  God. 

This  leads  me  to  remark, 

II.  It  is  wonderful  that  there  should  have  been  a  Church  till 
now,  and  its  continuance  is  a  living  miracle.  This  will  appear  if 
we  consider, 


236  THE    BURNING    BUSH. 

1.  How  small  her  number,  and  how  feeble  her  strength  compared 
with  the  hosts  of  her  enemies.     The  Church  of  Christ  is  still  a 
little  flock.     "  Strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way  that  lead- 
eth  unto  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it."     If  the  world  should 
unite  for  the  destruction  of  Zion,  how  small  would  she  be  in  their 
hands.     If  our  civil  governments  should  become  the  enemy  of  the 
Church,  how  easy  would  it  seem  to  destroy  her.     If  the  impeni- 
tent should  wage  war  against  her  interests,  how  easily  might  they 
achieve  her  destruction  unless  God  prevented.     The  Church  has 
numerous,    vigilant,    and  persevering  enemies.     The  world,   the 
flesh,  and  the  devil,  are  leagued  for  her  destruction.     She  can  turn 
her  eye  in  no  direction  but  she  sees  aft  enemy.     There  is  not  a 
moment  passes  when  there  is  not  laid  some  plot  for  her  destruc- 
tion.    And  although  God  has  constantly  thwarted  the  designs  of 
her  enemies,  and  saved  the  Church,  when  a  host  encamped  against 
her,  yet  are  we  led  to  wonder  at  the  vigilant  and  decisive  move- 
ments of  that  unseen  agent,  who  ever  saves  the  Church. 

2.  We  wonder  at  the  existence  of  the  church,  because  there  is 
not  one  of  her  number  but  carries  her  worst  enemy  in  his  own 
bosom.     That  the  church  should  be  safe,  while  every  individual 
of  her  number  daily  offends  the  Lord,  so  as  to  deserve  destruc- 
tion, is  that  which  excites  surprise.     The  principles  of  apostacy 
and  revolt  are  in  every  Christian  bosom,  and  will  be  while  there 
is  a  church  on  earth.     The  perseverance  of  the  saints  is  a  living 
miracle.     Viewed  in  himself  there  is  nothing  impossible  or  im- 
probable in  his  final  apostacy.      It  is  rather  wonderful  that  he 
should  ever  persevere  than  that  he  always  should.     If  religion  had 
no  other  foe  than  the  remaining  corruption  in  the  hearts  of  God's 
people,  we  should  wonder  that  ever  one  of  them  reached  heaven. 

3.  We  wonder  that  the  church  lives  because  of  the  numerous 
hypocrites  which  she  carries  in  her  own  bosom.     Not  only  does 
the  church  live  in  a  world  of  enemies,  but  the  church  visible   is 
partly  composed  of  men  that  hate  the  Lord,  and  hate  his  kingdom. 
This,  it  is  perceived,  must  greatly  reduce  her  apparent  strength. 
Might  we  count  every  professor  as  the  friend  of  God,  Zion  would 
be  a  host  compared  with  its  real  strength.     But  she  is  at  present  a 
citadel  with  many  enemies  in  her  own  bosom.     That  every  hypo- 
crite weakens  the  strength  of  the  Church,  there  can  be  no  question. 
It  is  their  ungodly  conduct  that  awakens  reproach  against  religion, 
and  arms  the  enemy  with  rage  for  her  destruction  ;    and  they  at 
the  same  time  discourage  the  hearts  of  God's  people,  and  prevent 
the  Church  from  moving  forward  as  a  band  against  the  enemy. 


f 

THE    BURNING   BUSH.  237 

4.  The  continuance  of  a  Christian  church  is  matter  of  surprise 
when  we  consider  that  if  God's  people  act  in  character  their  sen- 
timents and  conduct  constantly  enrage  the  world.     God's  people 
believe,   and  must  constantly   advocate,   those   doctrines  which 
wicked  men  disrelish  and  oppose,  and  must  practice  these  duties 
which  administer   constant  reproof   to   men   of   ungodly   lives.* 
Hence  our  Lord  declared,  that  he  came  not  to  send  peace  on  earth 
but  a  sword.     For,  said  he,  "  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance 
against  his  father,  and  the  daughter  against  her  mother,  and  the 
daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law,  and  a  man's  foes  shall 
be  they  of  his  own  household."      And  we  have  often  seen  this  ' 
dreadful  prediction  exemplified.     Hatred  to  the  religion  of  Christ, 
has  been  seen  to  extinguish  the   strongest  instinctive  affections, 
and  to  create  war,  where  before  there  was  some  degree  of  harmo- 
ny.    Christ  assured  his  followers,  "  They  that  will  live  godly  in 
Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution."      And  every  page  of  the 
Church  history  testifies,  that  the  religion  of  the  gospel  is  at  war 
with  the  wicked  passions  of  men.     Hence  how  wonderful  that  re- 
ligion has  not  long  since  been  extinguished,  and  the  world  been 
left  without  any  salt  to  save  it  from  moral  putrefaction. 

5.  Another  reason  why  we  wonder  that  the  Chut ch  has  not  long 
since  become  extinct  is  that  she  has  always  depended  more  or  less 
on  the  world,  for  the  support  of  those  ordinances  and  institutions 
on  which  depends  her  own  existence.     No  age  of  the  Church  can 
be  named  when  wicked  men  did  not  contribute  to  feed  the  fires 
of  her  altars,  and  support  her  ministry.     In  Israel  the  wicked  as 
well  as  the  righteous  helped  erect  the  temple,  and  build  the  altar, 
and  furnish  the  daily  sacrifice,  and  support  the  .family  of  Levi. 
They  contributed  largely  to  furnish  those  costly  offerings  which 
adorned  the  temple  of  Jerusalem.     And  through  all  the  periods 
of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  wicked  men  were  occasionally  among 
the  most  active  in  promoting  the  external  interests  of  the  Church. 
And  since  the  introduction  of  the  gospel  dispensation  the  case  has 
not  altered.      There   was  found  at  least  one  unconverted  man  at 
the  very  commencement  of  the  Christian  Church,  who   sold  his 
possessions,  and  brought  a  part  of  the  price,  and  laid  it  down  at 
the  apostles'  feet.     And  in  every  country  where  there  has  been  a 
Christian  Church,  men  have  helped  support  her  ministry,  and  build 
her  sanctuaries,  and  supply  her  charities,  who  did  not  hope  to 
share  in  her  redemption. 
But,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  Church  has  lived  in  these  cir- 


238  THE   BURNING    BUSH. 

cumstances  ever  since  its  first  establishment,  and  will  live  till  the 
last  of  the  elect  are  gathered  in.  And  it  seems  the  fires  are  to 
continue  to  burn  till  the  close  of  the  period  of  grace.  Even  the 
millennium,  which  will  seem  to  have  put  out  the  fires  that  flame 
through  the  branches  of  the  bush,  will  not  raise  the  Church  above 
.  opposition,  for  at  the  close  of  that  period  we  read  that  Satan  shall 
be  loosed  out  of  his  prison,  and  shall  go  out  to  deceive  the  nations 
which  are  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  Gog  and  Magog,  to 
gather  them  together  to  battle  ;  the  number  of  whom  is  as  the 
sand  of  the  sea.  And  they  went  out  on  the  breadth  of  the  earth, 
and  compassed  the  camp  of  the  saints  about  and  around  the  belov- 
ed city  ;  and  fire  came  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  devoured 
them.  I  think  we  gather  from  this  passage  that  when  the  millen- 
nium, or  Sabbath  of  the  Church  is  past,  she  will  still  have  enemies 
in  every  part  of  the  world  who  will  unite  their  strength  for  her 
destruction.  Thus  the  bush  will  still  burn,  but  it  will  not  be  con- 
sumed, for  God  shall  rain  fire  from  heaven  which  will  destroy  her 
enemies. 

REMARKS. 

1.  If  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  is  thus  safe,  so  are  all  her  mem- 
bers. The  idea  that  the  whole  of  a  thing  can  be  safe,  and  yet  all 
its  parts  in  danger  is  absurd,  like  that  of  supposing  a  general, 
without  a  particular  providence.  The  bush  that  Moses  saw  re- 
mained entire  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  Not  a  branch  nor  leaf 
perished.  If  there  is  no  security  for  the  perseverance  of  individ- 
ual saints  there  may  be  no  Church  on  earth  before  the  return  of 
another  Sabbath.  And  yet  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  text  af- 
fords any  security  to  hypocrites  ;  for  although  they  may  be  enroll- 
ed with  God's  people,  he  may  still  save  his  people  and  destroy 
them.  Were  the  visible  Church  entirely  composed  of  false  pro- 
fessors, there  would  be  doubt  whether  it  would  not  become  extinct, 
but  there  are  mingled  with  the  ungodly  professors  enough  to  en- 
sure the  continuance  of  a  visible  Church.  But  I  suppose  the  secu- 
rity prefigured  in  the  text  to  belong  only  to  those  who  are  real 
believers,  and  whom  God  knows  will  finally  be  admitted  to  the 
joys  of  his  kingdom. 

2.  How  vain  have  been  the  efforts  of  the  ungodly  to  destroy  the 
Church.  She  has  lived,  and  can  live  amid  all  the  fires  they  can 
kindle.  She  has  often  flourished  most  when  persecution  has  raged 
with  the  greatest  vehemence.  Hence  was  derived  that  saying, 


THE    BURNING  BUSH.  239 

"  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church."  And  it  is  as 
well  for  the  world  at  large  as  for  the  Church,  that  their  efforts  are 
unavailing  :  for  the  saints  are  the  salt  of  the  earth — hence,  were 
the  Church  destroyed,  the  world  would  perish  too  ;  of  course,  their 
only  safety  is  in  their  defeat.  If  they  achieve  their  purpose,  they 
undo  themselves. 

You  have  known  men  to  attempt  their  own  execution,  and  been 
prevented.  Their  failure  was  their  safety.  You  have  known 
youths  arrested  by  the  arm  of  paternal  authority,  when  setting  out 
in  a  career  of  ruin.  Their  defeat  saved  them.  The  same  will  be 
the  case  with  the  enemies  of  God's  kingdom.  To  whatever  extent 
they  injure  the  Church,  they  will  hurt  themselves.  If  they  could 
destroy  the  Chui^jh,  they  would  ruin  the  world.  Every  thrust 
they  make  will  recoil  upon  their  own  heads. 

3.  How  useless  and  ungrateful  are  the  fears  of  God's  people. 
They  are  useless,  for  they  achieve  nothing.     They  are  ungrateful, 
for  God  has  already  done  enough  for  his  Church  to  deserve  her 
confidence.     If  he  had  ever  seen  her  desolations  with  indifference, 
if  one  promise  of  his  had  ever  failed,  if  the  Church  had  ever  found 
him  her  enemy  in  the  hour  of  distress,  there  would  then  be  ground 
of  fear.     But  no  such  thing  is  true ;  no  season  of  her  distress  has 
failed  to  move  his  pity  j  he  has  never  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  her 
prayers  ;  no   one  of  his  numerous  promises  has  ever  failed ;  nor 
did  her  enemies  ever  find  God  their  friend  in  a  season  of  his 
Church's  conflicts. 

4.  What  abundant  cause  have  God's  people  to  rejoice  in  his 
covenant  faithfulness.     There  is  nothing  but  God  that  Christians 
love  so  much  as  the  Church ;  and  while  the  Church  is  safe,  it 
must  make  them  happy.     In  her  safety  every  thing  dear  to  us  is 
safe,  in  her  ultimate  triumph  we  shall  find  our  own  salvation.    The 
subject,  then,  is  calculated  to  make  Christians  lift  up  their  heads. 
To  not  be  happy  when  there  is  such  abundant  cause  for  joy,  will 
argue  disaffection  to  the  interest  we  have  professed  to  espouse, 
and  will  cast  upon  us  the  suspicion  of  treachery.     This  is  a  case 
I  wish  to  provide  against,  lest  in  my  dying  behavior  I  dishonor 
him  who  laid  down  his  life  for  me.     If  I  am  not  happy  when 
dying,  impute  it  to  derangement,  unless  it  will  the  less  dishonor  my 
divine  Master  to  conclude  that  I  have  always  been  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness,  and  under  the  bonds  of  iniquity,  and  am  now  deserted 
of  him  to  prove  that  "  I  am  about  to  go  to  my  own  place."     The 
Church  has  always  been  so  safe,  and  with  it  every  interest  of  mine, 


240  THE    BURNING    BUSH. 

unless  I  have  interests  that  are  distinct  from  Christ's  interests,  and 
then  I  am  an  unbeliever,  and  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter. 
There  can  have  been  no  failure  of  the  everlasting  covenant.  God 
will  do  as  he  has  said.  And,  in  doing  so,  if  he  does  not  glorious 
things  for  me,  I  have  only  to  lie  down  and  die  with  shame ;  and 
the  one  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand  who  are  about  the 
throne  of  the  Lamb,  will  say  forever,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength, 
and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing."  And  the  whole  multitude 
will  utter  their  loud  and  long  amen. 


SERMON    XIX. 
THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE.-No.  I/ 

2  KINGS  XVII.  33. 

They  feared  the  Lord  and  served  their  own  gods. 

WHEN  the  king  of  Assyria  had  carried  captive  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel,  and  placed  them  in  different  parts  of  his  empire,  he  brought 
back  other  men  with  which  to  people  the  cities  of  Samaria.  But 
as  these  strangers  had  no  fear  of  the  God  of  Israel,  while  they 
occupied  the  consecrated  territory,  he  sent  lions  among  them,  that 
committed  such  ravages  that  complaint  was  made  to  the  king  of 
Assyria.  He  immediately  gave  directions  to  send  thither  one  of 
the  priests  that  they  had  brought  captive  from  that  land,  that  he 
might  teach  them  the  manner  of  the  God  of  the  land,  and  thus 
induce  him  to  be  propitious  to  its  new  population.  He  came  and 
dwelt  in  Bethel,  and  taught  the  people  how  they  should  fear  the 
Lord.  He  was  no  doubt  an  idolatrous  priest  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  officiate  in  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the  golden  calf. 
Howbeit,  every  nation  made  gods  of  their  own,  and  finally,  being 
unable  to  see  any  wide  distinction  between  the  calf  and  their  own 
favorite  idol,  paid  very  little  regard  to  the  established  worship. 
They  made  priests  of  the  lowest  of  the  people,  and  offered  sacri- 
fices in  their  high  places.  Then  follows  the  apparently  paradoxi- 
cal remark  of  the  text :  "  They  feared  the  Lord,  and  served  their 
own  gods." 

By  their  fearing  the  Lord  we  are  not  to  understand  that  they 
had  that  fear  of  the  Lord  which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  else 
they  would  not  have  served  their  own  gods.  The  sense  appears 
to  be,  that  they  paid  some  attention  to  the  established  worship  of 
the  calf,  but  devoted  their  principal  zeal  to  the  idol  worship,  to 
the  worship  they  had  imported  with  them  into  their  new  territory. 
And  this  is  declared  to  have  been  the  manner  of  the  Israelites 
whom  they  had  carried  captive.  They  pretended,  in  their  national 
religion,  to  pay  some  kind  of  homage  to  the  true  God,  but  still 
practised  the  worship  of  Baal.  But  that  all  this  show  of  homage 
to  Jehovah  was  offensive  to  him,  there  needs  no  argument  to  prove, 
31 


242  THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE. 

other  than  to  state  the  fact  that  it  was  an  idol  worship  which  he 
could  not  accept. 

But  the  question  urges  itself  upon  us,  Have  we  any  thing  in 
these  gospel  times  that  savors  of  such  a  spirit.  We  boast  of  our 
superior  light,  but  are  we  not  conversant  with  the  same  indiffer- 
ence, and  the  same  lightness  that  was  practised  by  the  Samaritans 
two  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago  1  Let  us  trace  the  resem- 
blance between  some  of  the  features  of  that  age  and  this. 

I.  There  was  evidently  great  indifference  felt  as  to  what  God 
was  worshiped — Jehovah  or  any  other  god.  Where  the  true  God 
was  pretended  to  be  worshiped,  under  the  image  of  a  beast  that 
had  horns  and  hoofs,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  he  would  claim 
nothing  more  of  his  worshipers  than  might  be  claimed  by  any  other 
idol.  There  might  be  some  sacredness  of  names,  or  ascription  of 
attributes  or  works  to  the  Israelitish  gods  that  they  had  not  been 
accustomed  to  give  their  idols,  but  the  untutored  Assyrian,  and 
Mede,  and  Persian  would  not  discern  the  difference,  and  would  be 
more  impressed  by  the  form  of  the  image,  than  by  any  ascription 
of  abstract  qualities  that  might  be  supposed  in  the  one  that  was 
not  in  the  other.  And  is  there  not  the  same  indifference  felt  now, 
by  very  many,  what  God  is  worshiped,  or  what  is  the  very  same 
question,  what  attributes  are  ascribed  to  the  God  we  adore.  How 
numerous  is  the  multitude  that  care  very  little  whether  the  God 
they  worship  is  so  holy  that  he  would  suffer  heaven  and  earth  to 
pass  away  sooner  than  permit  one  jot  or  tittle  of  his  law  to  fail ; 
or  so  indifferent  to  sin  that  he  will  save  all  men  even  without  re- 
pentance ; — whether  he  is  so  wise  as  to  know  the  end  from  the 
beginning,  and  will  work  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own 
will,  or  is  so  unfixed  in  his  purpose  as  to  never  have  determined 
whether  he  will  save  one,  or  ten  in  the  whole  of  the  human  family  ; 
— whether  God  is  a  sovereign,  and  will  do  his  pleasure  in  the 
armies  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  or  is  so 
weak  and  inefficient  that  he  will  suffer  a  worm  to  defeat  his  coun- 
sels, and  a  fly  to  frustrate  his  purpose  ; — whether  he  shall  have 
decision  enough  to  fix  unalterably  the  rewards  of  a  Savior's  suffer- 
ings, or  leave  it  a  chance  whether  he  shall  not  have  squandered 
away  his  blood ; — whether  he  shall  have  a  pure  and  holy  family 
about  him  in  heaven,  or  shall  martial  a  band  of  miscreants  ; — whe- 
ther he  shall  have  a  Church  on  earth  that  breathes  the  temper  of 
the  skies,  or  the  foetid  and  blasphemous  fumes  of  the  pit ; — whe- 
ther his  word  shall  be  all  truth,  or  none  of  it  truth,  or  a  part  of  it  ; 


THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFEJNCE.  243 

and  his  people  have  a  sure  word  of  prophecy  to  rest  upon,  or  their 
feet  stand  or  sink  in  the  quagmires  that  skirt  the  bottomless  pit ; 
— whether  he  exercises  over  the  world  a  government  so  particular 
as  to  notice  the  falling  of  a  sparrow,  and  number  the  hairs  of  our 
head,  or  exercises  so  general  a  providence  as  that  empires  only 
shall  deserve  his  notice,  and  our  little  selves,  at  least  our  few 
little  sins,  escape  his  inspection.  How  few  in  a  whole  congrega- 
tion of  worshipers  care  whether  he  be  a  God  that  will  require  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  or  will  be  satisfied  with  the  soulless,  spirit- 
less, external  ceremonies ;  whether  he  have  any  record  kept  of 
the  sins  of  his  creatures,  and  any  day  appointed  when  he  will  judge 
them,  or  he  shall  hear  and  bear  without  rebuking,  the  oaths  and 
curses  of  a  whole  apostate  world  1  That  whole  cursing  and  damn- 
ing community,  that  breathe  moral  pestilence  upon  every  wind 
that  blows,  do  you  not  suppose  that  they  would  prefer  a  God  that 
should  neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor  know  when  insult  is  offered  him, 
and  blasphemy  uttered  ]  Would  he  not  corrupt  the  public  faith, 
were  it  possible,  till  he  had  excluded  from  it  a  judgment,  and  a 
hell  1  So  the  Samaritans  cared  not  if  supreme  worship  be  offered 
to  Succoth-benoth,  or  the  golden  calf. 

II.  We  witness  in  many  men,  who  profess  to  be  decent  attend- 
ants upon  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  a  total  disregard,  what  is  the 
temper  and  conduct  he  will  require  in  his  worshippers  ;  whether  they 
shall  be  heavenly-minded,  and  lay  up  their  treasures  there  where 
God  is,  or  may  b$  sordid,  and  grovelling  in  their  views,  and  in 
their  habits,  and  be  the  veriest  ungodly,  churlish  souls  in  all  the 
creation  of  God ; — whether  they  shall  be  kind,  and  courteous,  and 
benevolent,  or  act  out  all  the  coarseness,  and  savageness  of  un- 
subdued nature ; — whether  they  shall  be  meek,  and  patient,  and 
forgiving,  or  may  pour  forth  all  the  wrath,  and  malice,  and  hurry, 
and  impatience  of  one  just  broken  out  from  the  enclosures  of 
crime,  and  chains,  and  infamy ;— whether  to  show  mercy  to  the 
men  who  are  sacrificing  themselves  upon  the  altars  of  devils,  and 
hold  them  back,  is  kind  and  Christian,  or  whether  one  may  live  up- 
on the  gains  of  iniquity,  and  thrive  and  fatten  upon  the  damnation 
of  souls  5— whether  to  bless  the  men  of  the  world  is  a  duty  at  all, 
or  whether  we  may,  with  the  same  divine  approbation,  pamper 
their  lusts  and  passions,  and  prematurely  plunge  them  into  ever- 
lasting fire  ; — there  is  resting  extensively  a  doubt  whether  the  spi- 
rit of  the  gospel  is  peaceful  or  contentious,  is  proud  and  overbear- 
ing, and  stubborn  and  refractory,  or  yielding,  and  kind,  and  amia- 


244  THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE. 

bie  j — whether  men  may  not  drink  of  the  cup  of  the  Lord  and  of 
the  cup  of  devils ;  may  not  love  the  world  more  than  believers, 
and  still  live  harmlessly  within  .the  enclosures  of  God's  covenant ; 
may  not  please  and  satisfy  the  world  more  than  the  Church,  and 
the  enemy  of  souls  more  than  God,  and  still  maintain  unbroken, 
and  unimpaired  their  high  claim  to  a  seat  at  the  supper,  and  a 
mansion  in  the  skies.  So  the  Samaritans  cared  not  whether  their 
gods  demanded  virtue  in  their  worshippers,  or  were  equally  con- 
tented with  lust,  and  crime,  and  blood.  "  They  feared  the  Lord, 
and  served  their  own  gods." 

III.  There  is  the  same  indifference  felt  as  to  what  doctrines  con- 
stitute the  essence  of  the  gospel. 

Men  presume  that  they  are  hearing  the  gospel  when  the  doc- 
trines of  the  divine  decrees,  of  election,  and  of  divine  sovereignty 
are  reprobated,  and  scowled  upon  as  the  doctrines  of  perdition, 
while  these  doctrines  are  plainly  found,  in  one  shape  and  another, 
on  almost  every  page  of  the  Bible.  They  consider  it  the  gospel 
if  they  hear  vilified  and  abused  the  doctrine  of  the  permanency  of 
God's  everlasting  covenant  with  his  people,  or  the  divinity  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  or  the  eternity  of  future  torments,  or  they  hear  advo- 
cated the  supremacy  of  some  light  within  that  shines  above  the 
brightness  of  the  inspired  page.  In  one  word,  the  mass  of  un- 
godly men  do  not  discriminate  what  truth  is,  nor  what  the  gospel 
is,  and  of  course,  do  not  very  much  care  whether  they  hear  the 
true  gospel  or  another.  There  is,  in  fact  jiothing  that  men 
care  so  little  about  as  God,  and,  what  relates  to  his  truth,  and 
kingdom  and  glory.  That  gospel,  which  they  profess  to  believe, 
they  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  hear  often.  They  will  not  keep 
Sabbath,  nor  care  to  be  in  the  sanctuary,  nor  care  to  have  others 
keep  the  Sabbaths,  and  attend  upon  God's  worship.  To  speak  the 
whole  truth,  religion  and  God  are  the  things  by  which  they  hold 
the  most  loosely  possible,  and  for  which  they  will  make  smaller 
sacrifice  than  for  anything  in  the  whole  circle  of  human  interests. 
They  would  not  give  as  much  annually  to  sustain  the  worship  of 
God  as  they  would  bestow  in  one  evening  on  the  theatre,  or  ex- 
pend at  one  sitting  in  the  grog-shop,  or  gamble  with  a  single 
game,  or  squander  in  one  excursion  of  pleasure.  They  would 
barter  away  all  the  interests  they  have  in  God,  and  truth,  and  hea- 
ven, for  a  dinner  of  herbs,  for  a  mess  of  pottage. 

We  shall  naturally  be  led  now  to  inquire,  of  what  avail  can  a  re- 
ligion be  that  takes  so  loose  a  hold  of  the  heart  1     What  did  it  do 


THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE.  245 

for  the  strangers  of  Samaria  1     Did  it  secure  the  Divine  presence 
and  blessing  1     Did  it  establish  between  them  and  God  any  per- 
manent covenant  1     Did  it  bring  down  the  rains  and  dews  upon 
their  territory  1     Did  it  even  keep  the  lions  off  1     And  it  may  be 
asked,  that  multitude  that  now  hold  loosely  by  everything  religious, 
what  their  professed  regard  for  God  will  do  for  them  1 
1.  Will  it  secure  them  a  religious  character  1 
Even   this  may   be  doubted.     If  region  is  worth  nothing  the 
world  will  say  it  is  nothing.     If  we  hold  so  loosely  by  it  that 
we  would  barter  away  all  its  interests  for  a  shilling,  the  world  will 
believe  that  we  esteem  it  a  worthless  religion.     If  to  gratify  a 
passion,  or  secure  an  interest,  or  secure  a  friend,  we  would  change 
our  religion,  or  be  without  its  ordinances,  and  place  our  posterity 
upon  the  crumbling  verge  of  infidelity,  may   we  not  well  doubt 
whether  we  shall  be  able  to  save  our  sinking  reputation  as  the 
friends  of  Christianity.     The  world  will  believe  us  religious  ex- 
actly to  the  extent  of  the  price  at  which  we  would  sell  our  reli- 
gious interests.     Hence  it  would  seem  that  the  great  mass  of  un- 
godly men  cannot  escape  the  charge  of  hypocrisy  in  any  profes- 
sion they  make  of  esteem  for  God's  character,  and  kingdom,  and 
glory. 

2.  Will  their  mdefiniteness  of  views  and  feelings  on  religious 
subjects   tend  to  their  peace  of  conscience  1     If  there  is  much 
in   the   mind   it   will   not.      Men    who    have    really   given   the 
gospel   a   serious   and  frequent  hearing   have    seldom   failed   to 
discover   that  their    sins    are    unpardoned,   and   their   souls   un- 
sanctified,  and  they  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  under  the  bonds 
of  iniquity.     They  take  so  little  pains  to  please  God,  and  get  to 
heaven,  that  they  lose  all  the  pains  they  do  take,  and  go  on  unhap- 
py all  the  way  to  the  grave,  and  to  perdition. 

3.  Does  the  little  regard  that  ungodly  men  pay  to  divine  things 
increase  their  advantages  of  obtaining  salvation  1     I  fear  some- 
times that  the  opposite  may  be  the  effect ;  that  the  careless  manner 
in  which  they  attend  upon  divine  truth  may  harden  their  hearts 
against  its  sanctifying  influence,  that  the  few  shillings  they  may 
pay  for  the  support  of  the  gospel — less  than  they  would  expend 
upon  the  most  worthless  concern  of  life — will  induce  the  habit  of 
feeling  that  the  gospel  is  of  no  value. 

4.  Will  this  loose  and  indefinite  regard  to  religious  things  save 
the  soul  1     No  ;  if  it  will  not  secure  peace  of  conscience,  nor  in- 
crease the  means  of  salvation,  nor  even  secure  a  religious  charac- 
ter, it  surely  will  not  save  the  soul.     No !  men  will  go  down  to 


24)6  THE    TRUE    GOD    A    SURE    DEFENCE. 

hell,  wearing  all  the  different  shades  of  disregard  to  God,  and  his 
kingdom. 

5.  Will  it  lay  the  passions,  and  still  the  appetites  ? 

No !  the  soul  that  is  not  filled  with  God  must  be  ever  on  the 
reach  to  find  something  else  to  fill  it  that  is  not  God,  and  must  fly 
from  vanity  to  vanity,  • 

"  And  find  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

I 
Each  object,  as  it  seizes  it,  will  say,  happiness  is  not  in  me. 

6.  Will  it  soothe  the  bed  of  death  1     No  ;  that  will  be  a  time 
of  decision,  and  to  have  not  been  honest  with  God  will,  in  the  re- 
trospective glances  of  that  hour,  be  the  most  horrid  and  torment- 
ing glance.     Men's  duplicity  in  the  things  of  religion,  will  be  the 
ghost  that  will  haunt  them  on  the  dying  bec[. 

7.  Let  the  subject,  then,  teach  us  the  value  of  decision  in  the 
things  of  religion.     If  men  have  any  regard  to  God,  let  them  have 
enough  to  save  the  soul.     If  they  hear  his  word,  let  them  pray  and 
repent,  and  do  works  meet  for  repentance,  and  then  they  live  for 
ever,  and  God  will  keep  the  lions  off  while  they  live,  and  keep  off 
the  roaring  lion  when  they  die,  and  bring  them  to  his  kingdom  at 
last,  where  they  may  bask  in  the  beams  of  his  face  for  ever. 


SERMON  XX. 

THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE— No  2. 

2.    KINGS    XVII.    33. 

They  feared  the  Lord,  and  served  their  own  gods. 

WHEN  Israel  went  into  captivity  under  Shalmanezer,  king  of  As- 
syria, supposed  by  the  ancient  Hebrew  writers  to  be  the  same  with 
Sennacherib,  God  condescended  to  give  the  reasons  why  he  thus 
dealt  with  those  who  had  been  long  his  covenant  people.  "  They 
had  sinned  against  the  Lord  their  God,"  [read  from  7th  to  17th 
verse,]  "  therefore  the  Lord  was  angry  with  Israel  and  removed 
them  out  of  his  sight."  How  amazing  is  the  condescension  of 
God,  that  he  would  thus  stoop  to  give  a  reason  of  his  conduct  to 
the  very  men  who  had  awakened  his  indignation  and  his  wrath. 

Doubtless  it  may  answer  some  important  purpose  in  his  moral 
government — that  his  very  enemies  be  convinced  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  his  dispensations.  By  this  very  means  every  mouth  will 
be  stopped  and  all  the  world  become  guilty  before  God.  He  will 
thus  keep  up  the  fear  of  him  and  the  dread  of  him  among  the  na- 
tions, and  he  will  hold  in  restraint  the  very  enemies  of  his  throne 
and  of  his  kingdom.  It  is  added  as  an  item  of  guilt  on  the  part 
of  Israel  that  their  conduct  had  affected  Judah,  and  had  induced 
Judah  to  walk  in  their  statutes,  for  which  the  Lord  had  rejected 
all  the  seed  of  Israel.  This  evil  effect  of  their  example  induced  the 
Lord  to  reject  them,  and  afflict  them,  and  deliver  them  into  the 
hand  of  the  spoilers,  until  they  had  cast  them  out  of  his  sight. 
There  is  nothing  that  men  are  more  accountable  for  than  their  in- 
fluence :  the  bearing  that  the  conduct  of  men  shall  have  upon  their 
neighbors,  may  constitute  the  most  prominent  item  of  their  guilt 
— God  may  destroy  the  wicked  sooner  than  he  would,  because  he 
will  protect  from  their  contaminating  example  the  men  who  are 
exposed  to  be  injured  by  their  vices.  This  was  manifestly  the 
fate  of  Israel.  They  had  stayed  longer  in  their  land,  and  the  foe 
had  been  held  in  check  had  not  the  kingdom  of  Judah  been  in 
danger  from  the  example  and  influence  of  their  idolatries. 

The  divine  penman  now  goes  back  to  rehearse  the  matter  from 
the  beginning,  and  speaks  of  God  as  having  rent  Israel  from  the 


248  THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE. 

house  of  Judah.  This  would  seem  like  shifting  off  the  blame  of 
their  apostacy  upon  the  Creator.  But  we  remember  that  nothing 
is  more  common  in  Scripture,  than  the  ascription  of  the  same  deed 
both  to  God  and  man.  God  is  said  to  have  hardened  the  heart  of 
Pharaoh,  and  still  he  charges  upon  Pharaoh  the  crime  of  hardening 
his  own  heart.  He  is  said  to  have  moved  David  to  number  Israel, 
and  yet  we  find  him  punishing  David  for  this  very  act.  It  is 
said  of  the  enemies  of  Israel  that  God  turned  their  heart  to  hate 
his  people,  and  still  he  punishes  them  for  hating  his  people.  These 
texts,  though  there  are  many  others  like  them,  are  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  Scriptures  are  familiar  with  the  ascription  of  the 
same  act,  both  to  the  Creator  and  the  creature. 

Should  we  now  recur  to  the  history  of  that  transaction,  we  may 
perhaps  discover  reasons  why  there  should  be  this  ascription  of 
the  same  event  to  two  distinct  agencies.  When  Rehoboam  was 
about  to  take  the  kingdom,  the  people  of  Israel,  headed  by  Jero- 
boam, complained  to  him  that  his  father  had  made  his  yoke  heavy, 
and  prayed  that  he  would  lighten  it.  He  took  counsel  of  his  prin- 
ces, and  answered  the  people  roughly,  and  the  result  was,  that  the 
ten  tribes  revolted  from  the  house  of  David.  They  made  Jero- 
boam their  king,  and  he  led  them  into  idolatry,  and  the  result  was 
that  the  wrath  of  God  was  kindled  against  them,  and  he  sent  them 
into  captivity  from  which  we  are  unable  to  say  that  they,  to  any 
very  great  extent,  ever  returned.  Now,  what  are  the  facts  in  this 
case,  that  would  go  to  show  that  the  transaction  was  of  Divine  ap- 
pointment, and  by  the  Divine  agency  1  In  the 

1.  Place,  we  see  some  some  reasons  that  God  had  to  be  offend- 
ed with  the  house  of  David,  and  why  he  should  sever  from  his 
family  part  of  the  kingdom.  In  the  latter  part  of  Solomon's  reign 
he  had  gone  into  a  state  of  dark  and  guilty  backsliding ;  had  mul- 
tiplied his  wives  and  given  up  his  heart  to  pleasure.  He  had  be- 
come the  richest  and  most  powerful  prince  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  The  spirit  that  led  David  to  number  the  people,  had  led 
Solomon  to  feel  proud  in  the  extent  of  his  riches  and  his  power. 
Hence  Rehoboam  was  led  to  answer  roughly  and  proudly  the  prayer 
of  his  people,  when  they  asked  to  have  their  yoke  lightened.  This 
pride  of  royalty  God  would  check  and  would  punish.  He  had  so 
threatened  David  for  his  sin  in  the  case  of  Uriah.  And  we  see  in 
his  successors,  sufficient  reason  why  he  should  now  punish  the  ini- 
quity of  the  fathers  upon  the  children.  Hence  we  shall  not  be 
surprised  to  find  the  Divine  agency  employed  in  severing  the  king- 
dom. 


THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE.  249 

2.  We  find  that  when  Rehoboam  had  gathered  together  his  one 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  warriors  to  reduce  the  rebellion  of 
Israel,  that  God  forbade  him  to  go  up  to  fight  with  his  brethren, 
but  bid  every  man  to  return  to  his  house,  and  offered,  as  the  rea- 
son of  this  requisition,  "  This  thing  is  done  of  me."     Thus  are  we 
led  to  see  the  evidence  complete,  that  the  division  of  the  house  of 
David  into  the  two  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel,  was  in  conso- 
nance with  the  Divine  plan  and  through  the  Divine  agency. 

3.  We  find,  moreover,  that  God  had,  even  in  the  time  of  Solo- 
mon, directed  Ahijah,  the  prophet,  to    show  Jeroboam  that  he 
should  be  king  over  ten  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel.    We 
have  a  record  of  the  facts  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  first  book 
of  Kings,  (from  the  26th  to  the  40th  verse.)     Now  that  which  God 
would  direct  his  own  prophet  to  foretell,  must  be  an  event  that  his 
mind  has  purposed,  and  his  providence  is  pledged  to  accomplish. 
And  he  condescends  even  to  offer  a  reason  of  this  resolve  of  the 
Divine  mind.     Because  they  have  forsaken  me  and  worshipped 
Ashtoreth  the  goddess  of  the  Zidonians,  Chemosh  the  god  of  the 
Moabites,  and  Milcom  the  god  of  the  children  of  Ammon.     Thus 
a  father's  sins  may  create  mischief  in  his  house  ages  afterwards. 

Let  us  now  inquire  what  there  is  to  show  that  it  was  all  a  hu- 
man transaction,  and  that  though  it  led  to  the  apostacy  and  ruin  of 
Israel,  they  still  deserved  the  punishment  that  came  upon  them. 

1.  There  appears  something  suspicious  in  these  complaints — as 
no  good  reason  can  be  found  why  they  should  complain  of  the 
yoke  they  had  to  wear  under  the  reign  of  Solomon.     He  enriched 
and  advanced  the  kingdom,  and  did  all  that  could  be  done  to  make 
his  subjects  easy  and  happy.     There  was  peace  during  all  his 
reig^    They  suffered  not  by  invasion  during  his  time,  and  never 
had  to  jeopardize  their  lives  in  the  high  places  of  the  field.    They 
abounded  in  provisions,  and  money,  and  merchandise,  and  had,  it 
would  seem,  all  that  heart  could  wish.     Now  a  people  who,  at  the 
close  of  a  reign  like  this,  would  embody  their  complaints  and  peti- 
tion for  a  redress  of  grievances,  would  exhibit  prima  facie  evidence 
that  they  had  very  depraved  hearts,  and  that  probably  something 
else,  and  not  the  matter  mentioned,  was  the  ground  of  their  griev- 
ance. 

2.  The  Israelites  achieved  their  own  separation  and  ruin,  by  ad- 
hering to  the  counsel  of  an  impious  and  unprincipled  Jeroboam. 
He,  doubtless,  instigated  them  to  prefer  their  complaints,  that  he 
might  have  a  pretence  for  seizing  the  sceptre  of  the  ten  tribes,  be- 
fore Providence  gave  the  signal.     They  ouo-ht  to  have  seen  and 

32 


250  THE  TRUE  GOD  A  SURE  DEFENCE. 

been  aware  of  their  wickedness.  It  does  not  excuse  men's  sins, 
that  they  have  presented  to  them  insidious  and  powerful  tempta- 
tions. We  may  not  give  up  our  minds  to  be  under  the  control  of 
any  other  mind,  till  we  know  that  the  mind  that  guides  ours  is  in- 
fallible. Else  we  must  be  responsible  for  all  the  results  as  if  we 
had  guided  our  own  steps. 

3.  There  was  precipitancy  in  Israel's  determining  to  be  a  king- 
dom by  itself,  till  they  had  asked  counsel  of  the  Lord,  whatever 
confidence  they  might  have  in  the  integrity  and  ability  of  their 
leader.     True  he  had  been  marked  out  as  a  king  by  the  Lord's 
prophet,  but  the  transaction  was  private,  and  could  be  known  to 
Israel,  only  as  Jeroboam  in  the  pride  of  his  heart,  had  without  au- 
thority divulged  it.     And  his  known  character  ought  to  have  made 
them  doubt  whether  their  interests  would  be  safe  in  his  hands. 
Men  may  not  resign  their  own  judgment  and  presume  on  the  Divine 
protection  and  guidance,  unless  they  look  well,  and  wisely,  and 
providently  to  their  own  interests. 

4.  The  people  of  Israel,  and  Jeroboam  with  them,  took  upon 
themselves  the  whole  responsibility  of  their  separation  and  their 
undoing,  by  forsaking  the  worship  of  the  true  God.     "  It  shall  be," 
said  the  Lord,  "  if  thou  wilt  hearken  unto  all  that  I  command  thee, 
and  wilt  walk  in  my  ways,  and  do  that  i§  right  in  my  sight  to 
keep  my  statutes  and  my  commandments,   as  David  my  servant 
did,  that  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  build  thee  a  sure  house  as  I  built 
for  David,  and  will  give  Jerusalem  unto  thee."     Thus  would  the 
promise  of  God  have  secured  Israel's  prosperity,  if  they  had  walk- 
ed in  the  counsels  of  the  Lord.     While,  then,  the  purpose  and  pro- 
vidence of  God  made  Israel  a  distinct  people,  and  they,  as  it  would 
seem,  laid  the  train  for  their  own  undoing ;  we  see  in  the  ^tory 
every  feature  of  a  mere  human  transaction,  laying  the  foundation 
for  guilt  and  for  desert  of  punishment,  for  everlasting  reproach  and 
self-destruction;  God  rent  Israel  from  the.  house  of  David,  and  yet 
Israel  rent  itself  from  the  house  of  David,  and  chose  its  own  king 
and  him  a  wicked  king,  who  drove  Israel  from  following  the  Lord, 
and  made  them  sin  a  great  sin.     For  the  children  of  Israel  walked 
in  all  the  sins  of  Jeroboam. 

It  is  evident,  then,  a  man  may  do  infinite  mischief — mischief 
that  shall  not  be  finished  in  his  own  age  or  generation,  the  stain 
and  the  shame  of  which  shall  adhere  to  his  blood,  and  pollute  his 
memory.  Jeroboam  is  held  up  as  an  example  of  wickedness,  in 
all  the  generations  after  him,  till  the  time  when  no  one  could  tell 
where  the  tribes  dwelt.  And  even  to  this  day,  when  not  a  trace 


THE    TRUE    GOD    A    SURE    DEFENCE.  251 

of  that  people  can,  with  any  great  assurance,  be  found,  that  man 
who  was  their  leader  in  this  revolt  from  the  house  of  David,  and 
from  the  worship  of  the  true  and  living  God,  is  held  up  as  on  a 
gibbet  to  warn  all  the  generations  not  to  copy  his  wickedness,  lest 
they  partake  of  his  plagues. 

The  sequel  is  awfully  admonitory.  Israel  departed  not  from  the 
sins  of  Jeroboam,  until  the  Lord  removed  them  out  of  his  sight,  as 
he  had  said  by  all  his  servants,  the  prophets.  "  So  was  Israel  car- 
ried away  out  of  their  own  land  to  Assyria  unto  this  day." 

REMARKS.- 

1.  This  subject  should  lead  us  to  reflect  on  the  immutability  of 
all  our  own  moral  actions.  It  was  not  very  far  from  a  thousand 
years  before  Christ,  when  Jeroboam  instigated  Israel  to  revolt. 
And  now,  almost  three  thousand  years  afterwards,  the  curse  is  still 
resting  on  the  house  of  Israel.  If  that  portion  of  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham has  not  become  extinct,  as  the  promise  would  seem  to  tell, 
how  incalculable  is  the  weight  of  that  man's  iniquities — and  who- 
ever else  might  sin  with  him,  and  all  Israel  sinned,  still  how  im- 
measurable in  their  moral  turpitude  are  his  crimes,  who  began  the 
whole  train  of  mischief. 

*2.  How  inflexible  is  the  holiness  and  righteousness  of  God — un- 
pardoned  sin  he  never  can  forget  to  hate.  Sin  not  purged  away 
in  a  Savior's  blood,  will  never  lose  its  odious  aspect,  though  under 
a  process  of  punishment  many  thousand  years.  And  how  can  we, 
with  such  facts  before  us,  doubt  but  that,  towards  the  incorrigibly 
wicked,  God  may  keep  his  anger  for  ever. 

3.  The  subject  leads  us  to  adore  the  wonders  of  God's  moral 
government. 

An  event  may  be  so  his  own  that  he  appointed  it,  and  would  not 
let  another  defeat,  and  was  the  mighty  power  that  kept  all  the 
agents  in  life,  and  sustained  and  strengthened  them  while  in  the 
service,  and  there  may  be  great  sin  and  unpardonable  in  the  trans- 
action, and  still  God  do  only  right,  and  the  crime  and  guilt  all  be- 
long to  the  agent  that  is  governed  and  controlled^ 

4.  The  subject  will  lead  us  to  reflect  upon  that  text,  "  No  man 
liveth  unto  himself,  and  no  man  dieth  unto  himself." 

There  is  not  a  transaction  of  life,  if  wicked,  done  in  the  seeing 
or  the  hearing  of  our  fellow-men,  but  may  go  to  involve  them  in 
guilt,  and  operate  upon  their  character,  and  history,  and  destiny, 
when  they  may  have  perished  a  thousand  years  since.  Hence  we 
must  ask  those  around  us,  and  they  us,  what  we  and  they  shall  be 


252  THE    TRUE    GOD    A    SURE    DEFENCE. 

when  these  heavens  are  dissolved.  The  character  of  man  is  so 
pliable  that  it  may  be  easily  changed  for  the  worse  at  any  period 
of  its  formation,  and  no  touch  of  moral  influence  fails  to  change  it, 
hence  every  man  lives  where  he  is  giving  character  to  a  world. 
And  when,  at  last,  we  shall  read  the  history  of  these  moral  results, 
we  shall  feel  it  to  have  been  a  terrible  thing  to  have  lived  in  such 
a  world,  where  souls  are  spread  out  around  us  on  every  side,  whose 
destiny  will  depend  on  their  character — and  that  character  con- 
nected with  our  conduct 


SERMON  XXI. 
THE  MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

PSALM  XCVII.  2. 

Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him. 

WHEN  our  Lord  had  assembled  his  disciples  to  eat  with  him  the 
last  paschal  supper,  it  was  a  moment  of  amazing  interest.  The 
devil  had  put  it  into  the  heart  of  Judas  to  betray  his  Master,  and 
the  machinations  of  darkness  were  in  rapid  and  successful  opera- 
tion. A  few  hours  would  pay  the  price  of  blood,  seal  the  doom 
of  the  traitor,  and  scatter  the  little  flock.  There  would  be  great 
weeping  in  the  church,  and  equal  joy  without.  Our  Lord  could 
have  averted  that  storm,  but  his  purposes  of  mercy  must  then 
have  failed ;  hence  he  let  his  power  sleep,  and  gave  the  hosts  of 
hell  the  opportunity  of  a  triumph.  He  had  yet  one  lesson  to  teach 
his  disciples,  and  would  instruct  them  practically.  He  rose  from 
supper,  laid  aside  his  upper  garment,  took  a  towel  and  girded  him- 
self, poured  water  into  a  basin,  and  began  to  wash  his  disciples' 
feet,  and  to  wipe  them  with  the  towel.  He  came  to  Simon  Peter. 
Said  the  astonished  Peter,  "Lord,  dost  thou  wash  my  feet  1"  The 
Lord  answered,  "  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now.11  What  could 
be  more  surprising  to  him  than  that  his  Lord  and  Master  should 
offer  to  perform  for  him  so  mean  an  office  1  But  the  astonished 
Peter  would  live  to  see  the  mystery  solved ;  "  thou  shalt  know 
hereafter."  He  would  learn  a  lesson  of  humility,  and  be  prepared 
to  teach  it  to  all  nations. 

But  the  text  is  not  of  private  interpretation,  and  may  teach  us, 
that  many  things  transpire  under  the  present  ministration  of  Divine 
providence,  which  to  men  are  very  mysterious. 

It  will  be  my  object  to  bring  into  view  some  of  these  mysterious 
events,  and  afterwards  inquire  into  the  source  of  the  mystery. 

I.  I  am  to  notice  some  of  the  events  of  Divine  providence  that 
are  mysterious.  It  cannot  be  expected  that  I  give  a  very  enlarg- 
ed catalogue  of  these  events.  It  will  .be  sufficient  if  the  few  that 
I  may  notice  suggest  others  that  are  obvious  to  every  reflecting 
mind.  I  name, 


254  THE    MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

1.    The  limited  spread,  and  small  success  of  the  gospel. 

It  was  published  in  Judea  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  and  the 
injunction  was  that  it  be  preached  to  all  nations.  Our  Lord  had 
power  to  cause  this  command  to  be  obeyed.  He  could  have  raised 
up  the  proper  instruments,  and  could  have  given  the  truth  access 
to  the  conscience  and  the  heart  to  whatever  extent  he  had  pleased. 
A  very  few  of  his  disciples,  in  all  ages,  have  been  desirous  to  exe- 
cute this  last  will  of  their  ascended  Lord,  and  have  done  some 
part  of  their  duty.  But  the  number  has  been  small,  and  their  ef- 
forts so  insulated,  that  very  little  has  been  done.  Three  quarters 
of  the  globe  are  yet  unacquainted  with  the  book  of  life,  have  never 
heard  of  a  Savior's  death,  or  been  invited  to  the  marriage  supper 
of  the  Lamb.  Of  the  eight  or  nine  hundred  millions  who  inhabit 
the  globe,  six  or  seven  hundred  millions  are,  up  to  this  day,  the 
worshippers  of  idols,  attributing  to  a  block  of  wood,  or  a  bar  of 
iron,  the  perfections  of  Jehovah,  and  offering  them  the  homage 
he  demands.  Almost  the  whole  population  of  Asia,  computed  at 
five  hundred  millions,  are  perfectly  ignorant  of  God  and  the  Sa- 
vior, as  the  beasts  that  roam  the  deserts.  The  fifty  millions  of 
Africa  are  in  a  condition  no  less  deplorable.  Among  the  two  hun- 
dred millions  of  Europe  can  be  found  millions  in  a  group  who  are 
involved  in  almost  total  moral  darkness.  Of  the  fifty  millions  in 
the  two  Americas,  something  like  four-fifths  remain  to  be  taught 
what  be  the  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God.  And  the  isl- 
ands of  the  sea  are,  with  a  few  exceptions,  so  many  moral  deserts. 
Thus  the  gospel  of  salvation,  the  forlorn  hope  of  a  perishing  world, 
the  invaluable  bequest  of  a  dying  Savior,  the  only  guide  of  the 
living,  or  hope  of  the  dying,  the  celestial  charter  of  a  blessed  im- 
mortality, at  the  end  of  sixty  generations,  circulates  only  through 
a  little  corner  of  this  revolted  world.  A  few  millions  enjoy  its 
noonday  beams,  and  others  its  twilight,  while  more  numerous  mil- 
lions are  immersed  in  the  shadow  of  death. 

From  some  regions  where  the  gospel  has  been,  it  seems  to  have 
taken  its  everlasting  flight.  Scarcely  an  inch  of  that  territory 
where  prophets  taught,  and  where  apostles  bled,  can  be  considered 
within  the  limits  of  the  church  of  God.  Jerusalem,  and  Antioch, 
and  Ephesus,  and  Rome,  and  Carthage,  where  trifth  once  had  a 
lodgment,  are  but  so  many  provinces  reconquered  by  the  prince  of 
darkness.  And  where  the  gospel  tarries  still  its  success  is  small. 
Compare  the  number  of  professors  with  those  who  are  without 
the  pale  of  the  Church,  and 'they  are  lost  in  the  superior  numbers 
that  turn  their  back  upon  the  communion.  And  what  numbers  of 


THE    MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE.  255 

those  who  feed  at  the  table,  will  not  at  last  sit  down  at  the  mar- 
riage supper  of  the  Lamb,  we  dare  not  calculate.  Beyond  a  doubt 
all  are  not  Israel  that  are  of  Israel.  We  know  that  many  in  the 
last  day  will  say,  "  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  eaten  and  drunk  in 
thy  presence  1"  to  whom  Christ  will  respond,  "I  never  knew 
you/' 

Many  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  at  the  end  of  a  long  life,  have 
exclaimed,  in  the  language  of  the  prophet,  "  who  hath  believed 
our  report,  and  to  whom  has  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed  V 
The  British  missionaries  labored  twenty  years,  in  the  islands  of 
the  South  Sea,  ere  they  could  tell  us  of  their  success.  Some  very 
able  men  of  God,  have  been  heard  to  say  on  their  death-bed,  that 
they  were  doubtful  whether  they  had  been  the  means  of  saving  a 
single  soul.  They  have  feared  that  God  had  merely  employed 
them  to  bring  the  fate  of  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida  upon  an  aban- 
doned multitude.  Now  in  all  this  there  is  something  very  myste- 
rious. If  Christ  issue  a  gospel,  why  suffer  it  to  travel  round  the 
world  so  slow  1  Why  fertilize  here  and  there  a  little  spot,  and 
leave  the  residue  of  the  world  a  desert  1  If  he  design  to  bless 
our  race,  why  not  render  his  gospel,  wherever  it  is  proclaimed, 
the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  power  of  God  1  In  an  enterprise  so 
dear  to  the  heart  of  God  as  that  of  rendering  men  holy,  one  would 
think  that  he  would  embark  all  his  attributes.  "  Clouds  and  dark- 
ness are  round  about  him." 

2.  There  has  been  something  mysterious  in  the  success  that  has 
attended  the  propagation  of  error.  Why  will  the  blessed  God  give 
his  enemies  opportunity  to  fill  the  world  with  lies  1  The  more 
firm  our  faith  in  the  promise,  that  all  nations  shall,  one  day,  come 
to  his  light,  the  more  of  mystery  is  there  in  his  suffering  the  ene- 
mies of  truth  to  have  any  success.  Just  when  the  gospel  had  com: 
menced  its  course,  Mahomet  was  permitted  to  impose  his  delusions 
upon  a  hundred  millions  of  souls.  And  as  the  darkness  of  pagan- 
ism began  to  be  dispersed,  popery  riveted  its  chains  upon  another 
hundred  millions.  Many  districts  of  our  world,  which  were  once 
blessed  with  a  pure  gospel,  have  since  become  the  prey  of  error. 
How  many  sectaries  have  arisen,  and  grown  in  numbers  and  in  in- 
fluence, whose  delusions  were  too  bare-faced  to  deceive  any  but  a 
fool.  No  error  seems  too  gross  to  forbid  its  circulation.  The 
Swedenborgian  and  the  Shaker,  who  could  have  collected  their 
creeds  no  where  but  from  the  reveries  of  Bedlam,  have  not  failed 
to  gather  about  them  a  community  of  madmen.  And  we  could 
name  other  sects,  whose  fundamental  doctrines  have  no  founda- 


256  THE    MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

tion  either  in  Scripture  or  in  common  sense,  and  still  they  find  ad- 
herents. An  impostor  will  gain  a  host  of  proselytes,  while  he  who 
proclaims  the  truth  has  scarcely  made  a  convert.  I  know  that 
error  finds,  in  the  depraved  heart,  a  soil  that  is  congenial,  while, 
for  the  reception  of  truth,  its  fallow  ground  must  be  broken  up. 
Hence  no  surprise  is  felt  at  the  fact  that  wicked  men  should  love 
error  j  but  God  is  the  Governor  of  the  world,  and  can  check  its 
progress  at  his  pleasure,  and  that  he  does  not  is  our  surprise. 

I  know  the  truth  will  finally  triumph.  The  witnesses,  whose 
souls  cry  from  under  the  altar,  will  yet  see  every  opposer  at  their 
feet.  But  why  the  temporary  triumph  that  God  allows  to  the  ene- 
mies of  his  gospel  ?  Why  must  good  men  so  often  encounter 
chilling  opposition  in  every  effort  they  make,  and  so  frequently 
seem  vanquished  1  So  Israel  encountered  many  a  defeat  in  con- 
test with  the  very  people  whom  God  had  devoted  to  destruction. 
I  do  not  say  that  faith  has  no  answer  to  these  queries,  but  that  it 
must  look  often  through  a  dark  cloud.  Even  in  the  present  day, 
when  the  finger  of  God  writes  success  on  every  banner  of  his  hosts, 
still  he  continues  to  allow  the  enemies  of  his  gospel  to  hope. 
Every  pious  effort  awakens  new  opposition,  and  passions  that  had 
lain  dormant  are  enlisted  against  his  kingdom.  One  of  the  once 
holiest  cities  of  our  land,  was  lately  enlisted,  with  its  wealth,  its 
eloquence,  and  its  influence,  against  the  immaculate  glories  of  the 
Lamb.  Now,  why  will  God  throw  influence  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  and  block  up  the  way  of  his  people  1  God  could  fill  the 
world  with  truth  in  an  hour,  and  say  to  Zion,  "  Arise,  shine,  for 
thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  arisen  upon  thee." 
While  "  the  hearts  of  men  are  in  his  hand,  and  he  turneth  them  as 
the  rivers  of  water  are  turned,"  why  will  he  allow  the  world  to  be 
overrun  with  error  1  He  has  promised  it  to  his  Son,  who  is,  one 
day,  to  "  reign  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth."  Now  why  will  he  keep  his  Son  out  of  the  promised 
inheritance  so  long,  when  he  could  so  easily  put  down  error,  and 
give  success  to  his  truth,  and  bring  every  knee  to  bow  to  him  1 
"  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him." 

3.  The  gifts  bestowed  upon  bad  men,  who  abuse  them,  while  many 
men  of  piety  have  smaller  talents,  is  mysterious. 

Said  our  Lord,  "  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth,  that  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes."  "  Not  many  wise  men,  after 
the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble,  are  called  :  but  God 
hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise 


THE    MYSTERIES    OF   PROVIDENCE.  257 

and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  are  mighty."  The  fact  is  unquestionable  that 
men  of  the  finest  talents  have  often  been  the  avowed  enemies  of  the 
truth.  They  have  managed  wisely,  and  pleaded  eloquently,  the 
cause  of  the  adversary,  and  have  spent  their  influence,  and  their 
lives  to  prop  the  pillars  of  his  sinking  empire.  Hume  and  others 
of  the  family  of  infidels,  who  own  him  as  their  father,  lavished 
upon  a  bad  cause  the  energies  of  a  mighty  intellect.  They  wanted 
nothing  but  the  aid  of  truth  to  give  immortality  to  every  page  they 
wrote.  Their  destiny  to  forgetfulness  is  because  they  served  a 
bad  cause,  and  a  bad  master.  Every  age  of  the  Church  has  had 
employed  against  her  many  of  the  noblest  geniuses  ;  and  her  foes 
can  never  plead  that  they  were  foiled  because  they  lacked  the 
ablest  of  advocates.  And  yet  many  who  have  been  eminent  for 
piety  have  been  comparatively  wanting  in  powers  of  mind.  They 
met  the  approbation  of  their  master,  having  employed  in  his  ser- 
vice all  the  talents  that  he  had  given  them.  If  they  failed  in  elo- 
quence or  influence,  still  by  their  example  and  their  prayers,  they 
pleaded  nobly  the  cause  of  truth,  and  will  stand  high  at  last  in  the 
estimate  of  heaven.  Their  names  will  be  remembered  when 
every  argument  and  every  orator  employed  in  the  cause  of  the 
adversary  shall  have  sunk  into  everlasting  contempt. 

We  are  not  prepared,  however,  to  say,  that  irreligion  can  boast 
of  a  balance  of  strong  argument  or  good  sense  on  its  side.  Argu- 
ment has  always  been  weak,  however  specious,  when  at  war  with 
truth,  and  good  sense  has  been  misnamed  when  associated  with 
infidelity.  Good  argument  must  be  founded  in  truth,  and  truth  is 
the  image  of  being  and  of  fact,  and  will  not  lend  its  aid  against  its 
own  honors.  Now  the  mystery  is  that  God  should  ever  arm  his 
enemies  with  talents  to  thwart  apparently  his  purposes  of  mercy, 
to  contradict  his  truth,  to  libel  his  character,  and  abuse  his  people. 

Will  his  providence  make  provision  for  strong  and  bitter  oppo- 
sition to  the  very  salvation  he  proclaims  1  Will  God  undertake 
to  subdue  a  rebel  world  to  allegiance,  and  raise  up  in  that  same 
world  men  ably  qualified  to  neutralize  the  whole  spirit  and  import 
of  the  very  overtures  he  proclaims  1 

Why  does  he  not  blast  the  intellect  and  paralyze  the  tongue  that 
lend  their  influence  to  pervert  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord  1  Why 
not  wither  the  arm  employed  in  efforts  to  dam  up  the  flow  of  his 
mercy  1  Why  not  touch  the  lips  of  his  people  as  with  a  live  coal 
from  his  altar,  and  render  every  child  of  his  an  eloquent  advocate 
33 


258  THE    MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

of  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  his  salvation.  "  Clouds  and  dark- 
ness are  round  about  him." 

4.  The  afflictions  of  the  good  men,  while  the  wicked  are  so  extensively 
prosperous,  appear  mysterious.  ' 

Understand  me  not  to  say  that  ungodliness  hath  the  promise  of 
the  life  that  now  is.  And  still  the  fact  cannot  be  controverted, 
that  many  who  have  set  their  mouth  against  the  heavens,  seems  to 
thrive  well  under  the  present  ministrations  of  Divine  providence. 
There  attend  them  uninterrupted  health,  long  life,  fulness  of  bread, 
and  success  in  all  their  schemes,  till  they  are  emboldened  at 
length  to  deny  that  God  made  them,  or  that  there  is  any  omniscient 
eye  to  see  them.  And  because  sentence  against  their  evil  works 
is  not  executed  speedily,  their  hearts  are  fully  set  in  them  to  do 
evil ;  while  contemporary  with  them  are  seen  good  men,  who  be- 
come habituated  to  disappointment,  poverty,  and  pain.  Now,  why 
will  God  suffer  this  in  one  case  ?  Whom  would  a  kind  father  smile 
upon,  and  bless,  and  prosper,  rather  than  his  own  children  1  When 
was  the  world  blessed  with  worthier  men  than  the  prophets  and 
apostles  1  And  what  class  of  men  have  ever  suffered  more  I 
"  They  had  trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover, 
of  bonds  and  imprisonment ;  they  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn 
asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword  ;  they  wandered 
about  in  sheep-skins  and  goat-skins,  being  destitute,  afflicted,  tor- 
mented ;  (of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy  :)  they  wandered  in 
deserts,  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth." 

The  summary  detail  that  Paul  gives  us  of  his  own  toils  and  suf- 
ferings, cannot  be  read  without  strong  and  painful  emotions.  He 
speaks  of  himself  as  having  been  compared  with  others ;  "  In  la- 
bors more  abundant,  in  stripes  above  measure,  in  prisons  more 
frequent,  in  deaths  oft.  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I  forty 
stripes  save  one.  Thrice  was  I  beaten  with  rods ;  once  was  1 
stoned ;  thrice  1  suffered  shipwreck  ;  a  night  and  a  day  have  I  been 
in  the  deep  ;  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of 
robbers,  in  perils  by  mine  own  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen, 
in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the 
sea,  in  perils  among  false  brethren ;  in  weariness  and  painfulness, 
in  watchings  often,  in  hunger,  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold 
and  nakedness."  And  the  long  list  of  martyrs  since  Paul  could 
each  rehearse  a  tale  that  would  torture  a  tender  heart.  Ages 
have  rolled  by,  when  the  dungeon,  the  rack,  the  cross,  and  fire, 
and  fagots,  and  every  other  instrument  of  torture,  that  ingenuity 
could  invent,  have  done  their  utmost  to  rid  the  world,  of  its  bes* 


THE    MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE.  259 

benefactors.  And  the  providence  of  God,  as  if  the  hand  of  malice 
were  too  slow,  has  hewn  down  the  best  of  men  in  the  morning  of 
life.  The  ministers  of  religion,  the  missionaries  of  the  cross,  the 
pillars  both  of  Church  and  state,  have  received  a  mandate  to 
quit  the  world,  at  the  moment  of  their  most  extended  influence, 
and  greatest  usefulness.  They  reached  an  eminence  that  qualified 
them  to  address  a  world,  and  rendered  their  services,  as  men  would 
judge,  indispensable  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Church,  and  were 
then  swept  into  the  grave.  So  fell  Dwight  and  Worcester,  and 
Mills,  and  Hall,  Everts,  Cornelius,  and  Wisner,  and  Payson,  and 
the  Churches  adopted  in  their  fall  that  mournful  dirge,  "  Clouds 
and  darkness  are  round  about  him." 

Or  they  sometimes  live  but  to  suffer,  and  groan,  and  weep.  God 
does  not  allow  his  people  in  this  world  a  downy  bed,  or  the  con- 
veniences of  a  palace,  doubtless  because  he  sees  that  such  would 
not  be  the  safest  route  to  heaven.  Their  religion  often  procures 
them  trials,  and  plants  upon  their  brow  a  crown  of  thorns.  Whe- 
ther they  have  any  more  trials  than  they  need  is  not  now  the  ques- 
tion. No  doubt  God  could  sanctify  them  by  his  Spirit,  and  take 
them  to  heaven  through  a  less  stormy  passage.  Nor  can  their  tri- 
als be  such  as  to  render  it  doubtful  whether  G.od  loves  them. 
And  still  it  is  sometimes  a  mystery,  that  God's  dearest  people  may 
not  have  more  refreshments  in  the  wilderness,  and  fewer  pains  on 
their  way  to  his  palace  in  the  skies. 

In  the  meantime  the  wicked  prosper.  Health  attends  their  per- 
sons, and  success  their  enterprises,  and  there  is  poured  into  their 
lap  a  profusion  of  wealth  and  pleasures,  and  honors.  And  they 
live,  it  may  be,  to  scourge  the  Church,  to  scare  the  timid,  and  vex 
the  faithful,  and  stop  the  tardy,  and  wring  from  aching  bosoms, 
midnight  complaints,  and  agonized  prayers.  Thus  they  flourish 
like  the  green  bay  tree,  and  by  a  hardy  constitution  and  a  daring 
mind,  rise  superior  to  all  the  plagues  and  pains  incident  to  holy 
men.  The  basest  of  human  beings  have  sometimes  measured  out 
a  hundred  years,  have  attended  the  funeral  of  every  pious  con- 
temporary, and  have  even  blown  the  trumpet  of  revolt  in  three 

centuries. 

. 

And  it  would  be  infidel  not  to  confess  that  God. had  their  life  in 
his  hand,  and  could  have  rid  the  world,  at  a  word,  of  their  con- 
taminating influence.  The  very  men  who  are  famous,  and  weary 
themselves  to  commit  iniquity,  and  would  keep  a  thanksgiving  if 
they  could  see  the  Church  exterminated ;  whose  .only  prayer  is 
that  God  would  hate  and  curse  his  people  ;  these  very  men  live  by 


260  THE    MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

Divine  appointment,  and  feed  daily  on  the  charities  of  Heaven, 
All  this  transpires  under  his  government  who  holds  his  people 
dear  to  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye,  and  has  engraven  the  walls  of 
their  sacred  city  on  the  palms  of  his  hands.  How  can  we  wonder 
that  the  weak  in  faith  are  sometimes  put  to  a  stand  by  events  like 
these,  and  are  led  to  say,  "  Verily  I  have  cleansed  my  heart  in  vain, 
and  washed  my  hands  in  innocency."  "  Thy  way  is  in  the  sea, 
thy  footsteps  are  not  known  1" 

5.  The  poverty  of  the  liberal,  while  the  churl  is  opulent,  is  another 
mystery. 

Ours  is  a  miserable  world,  and  might  be  meliorated  in  its  fall,  if 
the  generous  were  uniformly  wealthy.  We  meet  with  cases  of  dis- 
tress that  mere  sympathy,  if  we  have  no  oil  nor  wine,  cannot  cure, 
misery  that  cannot  be  washed  away  with  tears.  And  if  we  can 
add  a  few  crumbs  of  charity,  they  may  only  aggravate  the  misery 
attempted  to  be  relieved,  by  creating  a  taste  that  cannot  be  grati- 
fied, or  men  may  lack  these  sympathies,  but  have  the  means  of 
their  gratification.  Many  know  not  where  to  bestow  their  fruits, 
and  their  goods,  while  the  poor  may  beg  unpitied  the-  crumbs  that 
fall  from  their  table.  But  with  this  misery  they  give  themselves 
no  concern.  T^he  wounded  may  be  in  the  streets,  but  they  can 
pass  by  on  the  other  side.  The  widow's  fires  are  gone  out,  and 
her  little  ones  are  hungry,  but  it  brings  no  tear  into  their  eye. 
Some  Macedonian  prayer  is  heard  from  the  wilderness ;  immortal 
beings  are  going  on  to  the  judgment  without  a  Bible,  and  are 
finishing  their  probation  without  a  hope  of  immortality.  But  why 
disturb  them  with  these-  foreign  and  frivolous  complaints  1  They 
but  shut  their  ears,  and  grasp  their  purse  the  harder,  for  every  out- 
cry of  want  that  may  assail  them. 

We  can  see  them  glory  in  the  means  they  have,  but  will  not  use 
in  curing  the  miseries  that  lie  spread  around  them.  One  man 
could  furnish  his  town  with  the  gospel,  but  lets  it  lie  a  waste 
place  ;  another  could  build  them  a  sanctuary,  but  suffers  the  place 
where  God's  honor  dwells  to  crumble  into  dust ;  another  could 
support  a  domestic  missionary,  and  repair  the  desolations  of  many 
generations  ;  another  could  charter  a  vessel  with  Bibles  for  India  ; 
another  could  educate  an  evangelist,  and  another  support  him  in 
some  outpost  of  Zion  ;  and  yet  the  whole  of  them  combined  will 
not  unite  to  buy  themselves  the  gospel,  but  squander  away  the 
Sabbath  as  the  beast  does. 

Now  were  all  this  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  benevolent,  it 
would  seem  wise  and  good  in  him  that  governs  the  world.  The 


THE  MYSTERIES  OF  PROVIDENCE.  261 

poor  would  be  supplied,  the  heathen  evangelized,  the  gospel  sup- 
ported, and  the  blessed  God  honored.  It  seems  impossible  that 
this  should  not,  then,  be  a  happier  world.  The  ruins  of  the  apos- 
tacy  would,  then,  be  more  than  half  repaired,  and  there  would  be 
seen  approaching  the  millenial  year  of  the  world. 

Now  the  mystery  is,  that  God  should,  in  so  many  cases,  give 
the  wealth  to  one,  and  the  benevolent  sympathies  to  another; 
should  place  the  talents  where  they  cannot  be  used,  and  the  kind- 
ness where  it  has  no  medium  of  display.  The  wealth  rusts  for 
want  of  use,  while  benevolence  bleeds  over  misery  which  it  has 
not  the  ability  to  relieve.  When  occasionally  the  two  things  meet 
they  are  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver.  I  could  men- 
tion characters  that  will  go  down  to  posterity  wijh  honor ;  in 
which  were  identified  opulence  and  charity.  With  these  to  be 
useful  was  to  live,  and,  though  dead,  they  yet.  live  in  the  streams 
of  charity  they  created,  and  which  will  continue  to  flow  till  they 
have  fertilized  the  wastes  of  many  generations.  But  I  could 
name  others  who  had  hearts  to  feel,  but  had  not  the  means  of  re- 
lieving the  wretchedness  over  which  it  was  their  painful  luxury  to 
weep.  The  immortal  Howard,  having  devoted  his  patrimony  in 
the  cure  of  distress,  poured  out  his  tears  over  other  miseries  which 
the  smallness  of  his  resources,  and  the  shortness  of  human  life, 
disenabled  him  to  relieve.  To  adopt  the  sentiment  of  his  eminent 
eulogist,  "  he  visited  all  Europe,  not  to  indulge  in  its  luxuries,  but 
to  dive  into  the  depths  of  dungeons,  to  plunge  into  the  infection 
of  hospitals ;  to  survey  the  mansions  of  sorrow  and  pain  ;  to  take 
the  guage  and  dimensions  of  misery,  depression,  and  contempt ;  to 
remember  the  forgotten,  to  attend  to  the  neglected,  to  visit  the 
forsaken,  and  to  compare  and  collate  the  distresses  of  all  men  in 
all  countries.  His  plan  was  original,  was  full  of  genius  and  hu- 
manity. It  was  a  voyage  of  discovery ;  a  circumnavigation  of 
charity."  Such  were  the  efforts  of  one  who  felt  for  the  misera- 
ble beyond  his  ability  to  administer  relief.  He  did  honor  to  the 
finest  feelings  of  our  nature,  and  erected  to  himself  an  imperisha- 
ble monument  in  the  memory  of  the  miserable. 

And  it  would  be  easy  to  name  men  of  the  opposite  character, 
who  have  the  means  of  making  the  wretched  happy,  but  on  whom 
rio  child  of  sorrow  can  ever  fix  a  look  of  gratitude.  But  we  are 
happy  to  say  the  world  is  now  undergoing  a  change,  by  which  men 
of  this  description  must  become  as  contemptible  as  they  are 
wealthy.  God  is  saying  now  to  the  world,  that  the  silver  and  the 
gold  are  his,  and  many,  at  his  bidding,  are  casting  their  wealth 


262  THE   MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

into  his  treasury,  and  the  father,  who  will  not  now  aid  the  cause 
of  charity,  will  make  his  heirs  ashamed.  A  suffering  world  has 
raised  its  cry  to  heaven,  and  God  has  heard,  and  will  have  its 
miseries  relieved.  But  how  strange  that  for  so  many  thousand 
years,  ht  should  have  permitted  wealth  and  charity  to  be  so  ex- 
tensively dissociated,  when  their  union  would  have  so  mitigated 
the  miseries  of  the  apostacy. 

6.  I  mention  but  one  other  fact  under  the  government  of  God 
that  would  seem  a  mystery,  the  small  degrees  of  sanctification  in  his 
people.  Knowing  that  they  would  never  arrive  at  heaven  without 
his  interference,  God  has  undertaken  to  sanctify  them  by  his 
Spirit ;  and  has  even  promised  that  when  he  begins  a  good  work 
he  will  see  it  consummated. 

There  is,  then,  a  pledge  given  that  God  will  make  all  his  people 
like  him.  Hence  w.e  are  confident  that  he  has  never  abandoned 
one  that  he  has  begun  to  sanctify.  And  still  how  little  of  the 
image  of  God  is  seen  in  his  people.  And  I  have  no  reference  now 
to  false  professors,  but  to  those  who  give  the  best  evidence  that 
they  love  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  pious  kings  and  patriarchs  of 
Israel  all  polluted  their  memory,  and  marred  their  enjoyment  by 
sin.  The  best  men  whose  history  is  recorded  in  the  volume  of  in- 
spiration, are  seen  to  have  come  greatly  short  of  what  God  would 
have  them  to  be.  And  the  Christians  of  the  present  day,  are,  at 
the  best,  poor  polluted  creatures.  How  liable  to  become  worldly, 
to  pollute  their  consciences  .with  crime,  and  dishonor  the  sacred 
name  into  which  they  have  been  baptized.  In  every  prayer  they 
make,  one  who  is  a  stranger  to  his  own  heart  is  liable  to  infer  that 
they  have  polluted  their  hands  with  capital  offences  against  the 
laws  both  of  God  and  man.  Now,  why  will  God  permit  his  family 
to  be  so  corrupt  1  Would  he  not  love  them  more  if  they  were 
like  him  1  And  their  songs  how  much  sweeter,  and  their  sacrifi- 
ces how  much  more  acceptable,  and  how  much  more  abundant 
their  comforts,  and  more  exalted  the  glory  that  would  redound  to 
their  Redeemer,  if  they  were  more  holy.  And  they  are  God's  own 
family,  whom  he  will  have  near  to  him  in  his  kingdom,  and  who 
are  to  reflect  his  glory  for  ever.  He  intends  to  go  on  operating 
in  their  hearts  till  he  makes  them  like  himself,  and  yet  he  permits 
them  to  carry  about  with  them,  till  they  die,  a  body  of  sin  and 
death.  It  is  wonderful  that  an  everlasting  covenant  should  bind 
such  polluted  creatures  to  their  holy  Redeemer  ;  that  their  sins  do 
not  forfeit  them  the  endeared  relationship,  and  cut  them  off  from 
hope,  and  happiness,  and  heaven.  And  equally  strange,  on  the 


THE   MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE.  263 

other  side,  that  since  God  could,  by  a  single  word,  render  them 
perfectly  holy,  he  should  still  permit  them  to  progress  so  slowly 
in  their  way  to  perfection.  Why  not  say  to  the  whole  family  of 
believers,  "  I  will,  be  ye  clean,"  and  thus,  in  one  moment  solve  the 
mystery,  and  render  millions  of  hearts  happy  1  "  What  I  do  thou 
knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter." 


REMARKS. 


1.  The  subject  should  render  us  humble.  •  Our  view  of  every  sub- 
ject is  so  limited  and  so  obscure,  that  no  very  great  degree  of 
confidence  can  become  us.     It  may  give  us  joy  that  God  knows 
how  every  thing  will  terminate,  and  that  in  the  end  we  shall  know 
that  God  has  done  all  things  well.     But  while  we  know  so  little, 
and  with  regard  to  many  things  hardly  venture  to  have  any  opin- 
ion, the  deepest  humility  becomes  us,  and  the  greatest  modesty, 
when  we  think  or  converse  on  the  ways  of  God.     A  proud  man,  in 
such  a  world  as  this,  is  a  monster,  and  not  to  be  tolerated  till  he 
is  smitten  with  a  deep  sense  of  his  own  insignificance.     To  be 
learning  all  we  can  is  our  duty,  and  still  it  is  our  duty  to  feel  till 
we  die  that  we  have  only  read  a  single  page  of  the  book  of  Provi- 
dence, and  have  read  that  page  by  the  dimmest  twilight.     We 
may  have  as  enlarged  hopes  of  the  discoveries  of  futurity  as  we 
please  to  cherish,  may  calculate  one  day  to  know  even  as  we  are 
known ;  but  to  have  at  present  any  confidence  that  God  has  made  „ 
a  full  disclosure  on  any  subject,  is  to  lose  sight  of  our  own  novi- 
ciate, and  prepare  ourselves  for  sad  and  everlasting  disappoint- 
ment. 

2.  While  the  present  state  of  things  is  calculated  to  destroy  all 
self-confidence,  it  prepares  the  way  for  the  most  enlarged  faith. 
The  less  we  know,  the  greater  occasion  is  there  to  believe,  the  less 
we  are  permitted  to  discover  of  our  path  with  our  own  eyes,  the 
more  absolute  the  necessity  that  we  lean  upon  the  hand  of  God. 
If  we  walk  in  darkness,  and  have  no  light,  the  command  is  that  we 
trust  in  the  Lord,  and  stay  ourselves  upon  our  God.     If  we  can  but 
walk  safely,  though  it  be  by  starlight,  we  may  rest  assured  that, 
by-and-bye,  when  the  sun  has  risen,  we  shall  see  that  God  has  led 
us  in  the  right  way,  that  we  might  go  to  a  city  .of  habitation. 
Surely  our  confidence  in  him  may  rise  to  the  highest  pitch  of  as- 
surance.    If  it  be  important  that  we  learn,  before  we  reach  hea- 
ven, to  rely  with  the  most  entire  confidence  on  the  truth  and  faith- 
fulness of  God,  then  are  we  placed  in  the  very  world  where  we  can 
learn  this  lesson  to  the  happiest  advantage.     One  could  not  learn 


264  THE   MYSTERIES    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

to  believe  in  heaven,  learn  to  trust  where  no  danger  is,  learn  to  wait 
when  every  good  is  present,  or  be  diffident  when  the  whole  mys- 
tery is  developed.  And  we  cannot  tell  now  how  much  good  it 
may  do  us  in  heaven  to  have  been  bred  for  that  world  in  the  very 
twilight  that  now  surrounds  us.  It  may  render  heaven  a  far  hap- 
pier world  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been.  This  world  may 
'  hereafter  be  seen  to  have  been  the  nursery  where  only  we  could 
have  learned  some  of  those  first  lessons  that  lay  a  broad  founda- 
tion for  progress  and  joy  in  the  acquisition  of  heavenly  science. 
And  we  may  a  thousand  times  bless  the  Lord  in  our  future  songs, 
that  no  farther  light  was  granted  us  when  we  passed  this  desert. 
Let  faith  be  strong  and  we  can  hear  songs  in  the  night.  Job  sung 
sweetly  while  his  night  was  the  darkest.  "  I  know  that  my  Re- 
deemer liveth."  His  song  was  the  dictate  of  faith  which  darted 
through  the  cloud,  and  perched  him  upon  the  summit  of  Tabor, 
where  lay  smiling  in  his  eye  the  fields  of  promise.  There  he 
sung,  and  Moses  after  him,  and  there  if  we  can  but  climb,  we  shall 
see  a  wider,  and  fairer,  and  more  fertile  Canaan  than  gladdened 
believers  under  the  darker  dispensation.  Come  ye  disciples  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  "  Try,  try  your  wings," — let  your  faith  put  forth  its 
mightiest  efforts,  and  soon  you  rise  above  this  twilight,  and  ten 
thousand  intricacies  of  providence  disclose  their  mystery,  and  you 
see  a  wise,  and  great,  and  good  Jehovah  managing,  with  unerring 
skill,  the  darkest  operations  of  this  beclouded  world. 


SERMON    XXII. 
THE  WAYS  OF  GOD  UNFOLDED. 

JOHN  XIII.  7. 

What  I  do  thou  knoweet  not  now,  but  thou  shall  know  hereafter. 

THE  operations  of  Divine  providence  afford  the  believer  a  sub- 
ject of  contemplation,  the  most  delightful.  Little  as  he  can  know 
in  his  present  state,  and  darkened  as  must  be  all  the  views  of  a 
finite  mind,  when  employed  in  tracing  the  footsteps  of  an  incom- 
prehensible God,  still  the  research  is  pleasant.  When  vision  fails, 
faith  operates.  The  solution  of  one  mystery,  leads  us  to  antici- 
pate the  moment  when  others,  darker  still,  shall  be  solved.  The 
light  that  has  dawned  shall  shine  brighter  and  brighter  unto  the 
perfect  day.  It  is  the  God  we  love,  who  is  seen  to  operate.  Not 
only  can  he  do  no  wrong,  but  he  will  yet  permit  us  to  see  that  he 
has  done  right.  A  child  passing  a  wilderness  in  a  dark  night,  in 
company  with  his  father,  would  not  feel  alarmed,  if  for  a  moment, 
he  could  not  see  the  hand  that  led  him.  Parental  love  secures  the 
child,  and  filial  confidence  renders  him  content  and  happy.  The 
wilderness  has  its  limits,  and  the  darkness  its  period.  Creatures, 
from  their  very,  structure,  can  never  know  but  little,  and  at  present, 
comparatively  nothing.  It  is  enough  for  us,  that  he  who  operates, 
knows  ;  he  who  moves  the  machinery,  has  decreed  that  the  result 
shall  be  wise  and  happy.  And-  yet  it  is  our  duty  to  obtain  all  the 
light  we  can.  We  should  be  far  less  ignorant  of  God  and  his 
works,  if  we  were  more  industrious  in  our  researches.  Half  the 
mystery  of  which  we  complain^  we  create  by  our  inattention  and 
our  depravity. 

1.  We  can  at  present  know  but  little  of  the  ways  of  God. 

1.  We  often  mistake  the  Divine  purpose.  In  many  cases  the  ef- 
fect, which  God  designed  to  accomplish  by  a  particular  train  of 
operations,  is  already  produced,  while  yet  we  are  looking  out  for 
other  effects.  Deceived  as  to  what  was  God's  main  purpose,  we 
imagine  the  event  distant,  which  has  already  transpired.  God  will 
give  us  at  present  no  other  account  of  his  purpose,  than  that  con- 
34 


266  THE  WAYS  OF  GOD  UNFOLDED. 

tained  in  his  word,  and  this  relates  merely  to  our  duty,  and  the 
consequences  of  obedience.  It  may  be  the  design  of  God  to  ac- 
complish «nany  things,  which  we  should  have  supposed,  would 
never  have  entered  into  his  plan.  He  may  permit  men  to  act 
basely,  merely  to  illustrate  the  depravity  of  their  hearts,  and  thus 
corroborate  the  testimony  of  his  word ;  or  that  his  justice  may 
shine  the  more  conspicuously  in  their  condemnation  ;  or  that  they, 
in  their  overthrow,  may  become  a  beacon  to  warn  others ;  or  that 
his  people  may  be  rendered  the  more  grateful,  for  the  benefits  of 
restraining  and  sanctifying  grace.  We  are  altogether  too  igno- 
rant to  determine  what  is  a  desirable  event.  We  may  lament  as  an 
incurable  evil,  what  God  may  esteem  an  invaluable  good.  Hence 
we  may  labor  to  defeat  an  event,  to  accomplish  which  all  the  at- 
tributes of  omnipotence  are  embarked.  Our  prayers  and  energies 
may  be  excited  to  agony  in  warding  off  a  storm,  which,  it  is  his 
purpose  shall  come  down  upon  us  in  all  its  fury.  We  watch  at 
the  couch  of  a  languishing  child ;  our  life  is  bound  up  in  his ;  if  it 
die,  it  seems  to  us  that  God  must  design  to  undo  us ;  and  yet, 
perhaps,  that  child  was  given  us  that  it  might  die  in  our  arms,  and 
be  the  means  of  our  sanctification.  We  dread  some  apprehended 
revolution,  as  calculated  to  sap  the  foundations  of  our  civil  liber- 
ties, and  yet  God  may  see  that  it  will  enhance  our  blessedness. 
Hence  it  will  often  happen,  that  God  and  his  people  will  seem  to 
be  at  strife.  They  aim  at  his  glory,  and  suppose  that  he  would 
be  honored  by  an  event  which,  should  it  transpire,  would  injure 
them,  and  cover  his  throne  with  a  deeper  darkness.  But  in  a  case 
like  this,  God  will  approve  our  motives,  but  will  thwart  our  pur- 
pose ;  and  when  the  series  of  events  is  finished,  we  shall  see  and 
confess  that  we  were  mistaken,  and  that  God  was  wise. 

2.  The  remoteness  of  the  cause  from  the  effect,  renders  inexpli- 
cable many  of  the  events  of  Divine  providence.  When  we  see  the 
wondrous  machine  in  motion,  we  look  for  results  too  soon.  For- 
getful that  one  day  is  with  the  Loyl  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  as  one  day,  we  expect  him  to  finish  his  work  in  an 
hour.  The  wheel  we  now  see  in  motion  will  move  another,  and 
that  another,  and  another,  and  another,  till  at  length  the  hundredth 
generation  will  see  accomplished,  an  enterprise  which  we  see  begun. 
Voltaire  about  a  century  since  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  French  rev- 
olution, and  thus  commenced  a  train  of  events,  that  probably  will 
continue  in  operation  till  the  last  day.  Jeroboam  instituted  an 
idolatrous  worship,  which  resulted  twenty  centuries  afterward  in 
the  ruin  of  Israel.  Mohamed  more  than  one  thousand  years  ago, 


THE    WAYS    OF    GOD    UNFOLDED.  267 

compiled  a  system  of  falsehood,  which  now  chains  in  the  dun- 
geons of  death,  perhaps  one  hundred  millions  of  souls.  But  we 
must  be  infidels  too,  to  deny  that  these  are  all  events  of  Provi- 
dence, by  which  ultimately,  God  will  cover  himself  with  glory. 

And  the  subject  will  apply  itself  to  things  nearer  home.  A 
careless  father  admits  into  his  family  to-day  a  worthless  laborer, 
whose  pernicious  principles  and  example  debauch  and  ruin  his  de- 
scendants to  the  fifth,  and  perhaps  the  tenth  generation,  and,  it 
may  be,  ultimately  render  his  family  extinct.  A  mother,  to  cover 
the  villany  of  her  son,  denies  a  fact,  or  asserts  a  falsehood  in  his 
presence,  and  thus  teaches  her  child  to  prevaricate,  and  entails 
crime  and  infamy  upon  her  remotest  posterity.  A  father  breaks 
the  Sabbath,  and  deserts  the  sanctuary,  and  thus  places  his  offspring, 
for  many  generations,  in  the  seat  of  the  scorner.  There  is  really 
no  calculating  how  extensively  may  flow  the  streams  of  corrup- 
tion ;  how  remote  from  its  source  may  be  the  outlet  of  those  wa- 
ters, that  carry  wretchedness  and  death  in  their  course. 

Or  if  we  look  at  the  brighter  side  of  the  picture,  the  prospect 
will  be  more  pleasant.  David,  and  Moses,  and  Asaph,  three  thou- 
sand years  ago,  penned  those  divine  songs,  which  to-day  produce 
joy  and  gladness  in  every  part  of  Christendom,  and  will  continue 
to  multiply  the  happiness  of  believers,  till  the  second  coming  of 
the  Redeemer.  Many  a  pious  mother  a  thousand  years  ago,  taught 
her  children  those  principles,  which,  to-day  secure  to  her  a  pious 
posterity,  and  to  the  world  a  host  of  benefactors.  Our  forefathers 
founded  those  institutions  which  are  now  the  pillars  of  our  land, 
and  taught  those  principles  which  are  now  the  stay  of  our  churches, 
and  the  prolific  sources  of  our  revivals.  And  when  the  great 
drama  shall  be  finished,  we  shall,  doubtless,  see  many  causes  and 
their  effects  separated  from  each  other,  to  the  distance  of  a  hun- 
dred generations.  In  these  circumstances,  how  can  we  hope  that 
in  the  passing  events  there  will  not  be  many  things  inscrutably 
dark  and  mysterious.  If  a  force  were  seen  in  operation  in  this 
country,  which  was  to  produce  its  effects  in  the  north  of  Europe, 
or  In  some  isle  of  the  Pacific,  who  could  hope  to  remain  at  home, 
and  comprehend  fully  the  structure  of  that  machine  1  And  the 
case  is  the  same  when  time,  as  when  space  separates  the  cause 
from  the  effect.  Standing  by  the  little  rivulet  that  issues  from  a 
mountain  spring,  how  can  we  hope  to  measure  and  explore  the  ef- 
fects of  that  stream,  when  it  has  traversed  a  continent,  and  is  pour- 
ing out  its  waters  into  the  bosom  of  the  ocean.  Could  we  follow 
the  eye  of  God  down  through  the  unmeasured  tracts  of  time  and  see 


268  THE  WAYS  OF  GOD  UNFOLDED. 

every  plan  finished,  all  mystery  would  vanish.  Thus,  perhaps,  the 
angels,  born  to  noble  enterprise,  and  raised  by  their  immortality 
above  fatigue,  feast  their  expanded  minds,  on  the  interesting  nov- 
elties of  a  wonder-working  God. 

3.  We  are  often  involved  in  mystery,  because  we  do  not  see 
the  connection  betwen  the  powers  operating  and  their  results, 
even  when  not  very  remote.  Hence  many  causes  appear  never  to 
have  produced  their  legitimate  effects,  and  many  effects  appear  to 
have  transpired  without  a  cause.  There  was  a  cause  which  pro- 
duced the  effect,  but  one  or  the  other  was  hid  from  our  view. 
The  human  mind  was,  perhaps,  incapable  of  looking  upon  both  at 
the  same  glance.  A  child  surveys  a  complicated  machine,  but  is 
able  to  see  no  connection  between  the  motion  of  a  water-wheel, 
and  the  effect  produced.  We  see  a  stream  of  liquid  fire  pouring 
from  the  bosom  of  a  cloud  ;  in  a  moment  we  see  an  oak,  which  had 
withstood  the  storms  of  a  century,  rived  from  its  summit  to  its 
roots,  but  how  this  effect  is  produced,  we  are  unable  to  say  with 
any  good  degree  of  assurance,  after  the  researches  of  six  thousand 
years.  There  is  a  philosophy  that  can  neutralize  the  liquid  fire  ; 
there  is  an  eye  that  can  trace  the  forked  lightnings ;  there  is  a 
hand  that  can  bind  together,  by  intermediate  links,  the  most  remote 
extremes.  To  one  thus  endowed,  and  to  him  only,  there  can  be 
no  mystery.  The  cause  and  effect  may  be  near,  and  the  connec- 
tion natural  and  visible,  and  yet  that  connection  hid  from  us.  Pe- 
ter could  see  no  relationship  between  the  humiliating  act  of  the 
Redeemer  in  washing  his  feet  and  the  lesson  of  condescending 
kindness  which  that  act  was  intended  to  teach.  Paul,  with  all  his 
faith,  wondered  that  he  must  be  tortured  with  that  thorn  in  the 
flesh.  And  many  a  Christian,  since  then,  has  quarrelled  with  his 
circumstances,  as  calculated  to  retard  his  spiritual  growth,  and 
has  endeavored  to  thrust  himself  from  a  situation,  where  he  was 
learning  the  best  lessons  that  heavenly  wisdom  could  teach. 

4>.  Many  things  are  to  us  mysterious,  because  we  see  but  in 
part.  But  one  scene  of  the  grand  drama  falls  under  the  view  of 
any  one  generation.  We  see  the  commencement  of  a  process, 
which  will  not  be  finished  till  the  judgment ;  or  we  see  a  result, 
whose  remote  cause  lies  hid  among  the  ages  that  have  elapsed. 
When  the  last  day,  which  will  see  every  scheme  accomplished, 
shall  throw  back  its  light  upon  the  long  train  of  causes,  which 
shall  then  be  seen  yoked  with  their  specific  results,  the  darkness 
of  which  we  now  complain  will  all  have  vanished.  A  parent  edu- 
cates his  son,  without  any  design  whatever,  except  to  procure  him 


THE    WAYS    OF    GOD    UNFOLDED.  269 

the  means  of  being  wealthy  and  happy.  Knowing  the  worth  of 
an  education,  he,  in  his  turn,  educates  his  son,  till  at  length  there 
rises  up  in  that  family,  perhaps  not  till  the  tenth  generation,  a 
Brainerd,  a  Schwartz,  or  a  Vanderkemp,  by  whose  pious  labors  the 
very  desert  is  made  to  blossom,  and  vast  tracts  of  its  wastes  are  re- 
deemed from  endless  desolation.  But  this  grand  result  can  never 
be  known  till  the  morning  of  the  judgment.  Then  we  learn  why 
that  first  youth  was  educated.  A  man  is  wealthy,  but  covetous  to 
a  proverb,  and  has  an  only  son.  All  the  wealth  he  can  grasp  he 
hoards  up  for  that  son,  but  he,  in  the  mean  time,  becomes  dissipat- 
ed, and  dies  a  vagabond,  and  the  father,  destitute  of  an  heir,  is 
constrained  to  put  his  overgrown  estate  into  circulation,  and  it  final- 
ly drops  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  is  expended  in  sending 
the  bread  of  life  to  the  perishing  heathen.  But  this  happy  result 
can  never  be  fully  appreciated  till  the  period  of  the  judgment. 
Then  we  shall  know  why  the  father  was  permitted  to  become  pe- 
nurious, and  the  son  dissipated.  And  the  same  is  the  case  with 
regard  to  almost  every  movement  of  the  wheels  of  providence. 
There  is  nothing  finished  in  the  present  world  but  character,  or,  if 
finished,  the  result  is  not  declared.  We  can  see  the  whole  of  no- 
thing. Our  station  is  at  some  point  on  the  winding  banks  of  a 
stream,  whose  source,  and  whose  outlet  hide  themselves  in  the 
darkness  of  an  unmeasured  distance.  One  great  object  of  the 
judgment  will  be  to  show  that  God  was  wise  and  good  in  all  he 
did.  and  this  can  only  be  seen  when  every  event  is  finished.  Then 
the  widow  will  know  why  she  was  so  early  bereaved.  The  mother 
will  know  why  death  tore  her  infant  from  her  bosom.  The  aged 
minister  will  see  why  he  wept  away  his  life  over  a  hard-hearted 
people.  Then  the  believer  will  no  longer  see  through  a  glass 
darkly.  The  night  that  now  hovers  about  him  will  be  dispersed, 
and  the  full  blaze  of  a  noon-day  sun  shine  upon  every  unfinished 
scene  through  which  he  is  now  passing. 

5.  Another  source  of  mystery  arises  from  the  contrariety  be- 
tween the  means  employed  and  the  end  achieved.  The  very 
course  is  pursued  often  which  we  should  have  judged  would  have 
defeated  the  object.  Pharaoh  must  feed  the  family  of  Jacob  dur- 
ing the  years  of  famine,  and  to  compass  the  object  Joseph  must  go 
into  Egypt  a  slave.  Who  can  wonder  that  the  patriarch  exclaimed, 
"  All  these  things  are  against  me."  The  captive  Jews  must  enjoy 
the  patronage  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  to  compass  this  design 
Daniel  must  be  cast  into  a  den  of  hungry  lions.  On  that  dreary 
night  what  believing  captive  dared  to  hope  that  God  was  dealing 


270  THE    WAYS    OF    GOD    UNFOLDED. 

kindly  with  his  people.  And  they  must  be  in  esteem  with  the 
court  of  Persia,  but  to  effect  this  a  gallows  must  be  erected  for 
Mordecai.  When  the  gospel  was  to  be  disseminated,  there  must 
be  upon  the  Roman  throne  a  cruel,  ambitious  Caesar,  who  should 
not  shrink  at  the  sight  of  blood  till  the  world  was  subdued  at  his  feet. 
The  idea  of  communicating  instruction  by  means  of  tracts  originat- 
ed in  the  mind  of  Voltaire,  was  first  used  in  the  propagation  of  infi- 
delity, and  is  now  among  the  best  means  employed  by  the  Redeem- 
er in  subduing  the  world  to  himself.  It  was  the  Divine  purpose  to 
cure  the  world  of  infidelity  ;  to  accomplish  this,  God  directed  that 
the  experiment  should  first  be  made,  whether  a  nation  could  be 
happy  without  the  Bible ;  this  experiment  must  be  made  in  the 
very  centre  of  Christendom,  and  France  must  be  the  scene  of  its 
operation.  The  Scriptures  were  committed  to  the  flames,  and  so 
complete  was  the  conflagration,  that,  at  the  close  of  the  scene,  a 
search  was  instituted  and  continued  in  Paris  for  four  days  by  seve- 
ral enterprising  men,  without  being  able  to  discover  a  single  copy 
of  the  Bible.  The  dreary  result  you  know.  Infidelity  has  the 
heart  of  a  tiger  :  blood  is  its  proper  nourishment,  and  it  can  feed 
upon  its  own  bowels.  The  leaders  in  that  enterprise  invented  the 
guillotine,  and  dyed  its  beams  with  their  own  blood.  The  Jeho- 
vah whose  word  they  had  proscribed,  swept  them  all,  as  with  the 
besom  of  destruction,  into  one  untimely  grave.  The  iale  cannot 
be  told  without  emotion.  It  was  the  song  of  death,  and  the  work 
went  on  till  the  very  grave  said,  "  It  is  enough."  The  plague 
spread  throughout  the  empire,  till  almost  every  mother  in  the 
realm  grieved  that  it  had  not  been  her  destiny  to  live  and  die 
childless. 

Thus  we  saw  the  legitimate  fruits  of  infidelity,  and  this  experi- 
ment, strange  as  it  may  seem,  has  stabbed  the  vitals  of  that  mon- 
ster. No  nation  will  again  make  the  experiment  of  becoming 
happy  by  the  aid  of  infidelity.  All  are  receiving  the  Bible,  and  it 
will  soon  be  read  in  every  language  under  heaven.  Thus  means 
are  employed  apparently  the  most  contrary  to  the  design  which  is 
accomplished. 

6.  Another  source  of  mystery  is  the  amazing  disparity  between 
the  cause  and  the  effect.  An  arrow  shot  at  a  venture,  entered  be- 
tween the  joints  of  the  harness  and  slew  the  despot  of  Israel.  A 
shepherd's  boy,  with  a  sling  and  a  stone,  gained  Israel  a  victory 
over  the  army  of  Philistia.  When  Voltaire  was  a  school-boy,  who 
could  see  any  connection  between  him  and  the  plague  of  infidelity 
that  desolated  the  French  empire.  When  Alexander  and  Welling- 


THE    WAYS    OF    GOD    UNFOLDED.  271 

ton  were  in  their  cradles,  who  could  predict  that  they  were  to 
wade  in  triumph  through  the  carnage  of  Waterloo.  The  British 
government  laid  a  duty  upon  one  article  of  export  to  the  Ameri- 
can colonies,  and  it  resulted  in  our  independence.  A  little  cap- 
tive maid  directed  Naaman  to  Elisha,  and  convinced  the  court  of 
Syria  that  there  was  a  God  in  Israel.  So  the  little  stone  cut  out 
of  the  mountain  without  hands,  will  yet  become  a  great  mountain 
and  fill  the  whole  earth.  How  is  it  possible  that  we  should  not 
seem  surrounded  with  mystery,  while  we  inhabit  a  world  where 
the  greatest  events  are  thus  constantly  resulting  from  causes 
which  are  too  small  to  claim  any  relationship  to  those  events. 
Inattentive  to  what  is  passing,  the  event  breaks  in  upon  us  while 
yet  the  cause  lies  hid  in  the  profoundest  obscurity. 

7.  The  complication  of  causes  and  effects  casts  a. mystery  around 
the  movements  of  providence.    The  same  train  of  causes  produces 
more  than  one  effect.     That  which  we  term  an  event  is  often  the 
means  of  some  other  event.     In  the  case  of  Joseph,  God  intended 
to  afflict  and  sanctify  his  aged  father,   to  develope  the  depravity 
of  his  brethren,  to  cast  a  little  light  into  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  to 
bless  Joseph,  to  save  alive  his  father's  house,  to  drown  the  Egyp- 
tian host,  and  finally,  and  principally  to  get  to  himself  a  great 
name.     And  thus  is  connected  with  every  operation  of  providence 
a  great 'variety  of  events.     At  times  we  find  it  impossible  to  come 
at  the  main  design,  and  perhaps  in  most   cases  the  main  design 
cannot  be  known  till  the  assize  of  the  last  day. 

8.  The  perpetual  variety  which  God  observes  in  the  movements 
of  his  providence  covers  his  designs  with  mystery. 

We  cannot  calculate  that  the  same  causes  will,  with  any  uni- 
formity, produce  the  same  effects,  even  when  all  the  circumstances 
are  apparently  similar.  The  same  disease  will  not  operate  on  one 
constitution  as  on  another,  nor  on  the  same  constitution  at  one 
time  as  at  another.  The  same  exposure  which  yesterday  caused 
death,  to-day  is  innocent ;  and  the  medicine  which  in  one  case 
checked  the  rage  of  a  disease,  in  another  has  been  thought  to  aid 
its  operations.  The  same  remark,  which  yesterday  was  harmless, 
to-day  kindles  a  fire  not  to  be  extinguished  in  half  a  century. 
Hence  we  can  predict  nothing.  God  seems  designedly  to  cover 
himself  with  impenetrable  darkness.  His  way  is  in  the  deep 
waters,  and  his  footsteps  unknown.  "  What  I  do  thou  knowest 
not  now,  bu^  thou  shalt  know  hereafter." 

9.  We  perpetually  misjudge,  as  to  events,  which  are  happy  and 
which  unhappy.     Hence  the   mystery  of  the  crucifixion.     How 


272  THE  WAYS  OF  GOD  UNFOLDED. 

could  the  disciples,  who  hoped  in  a  Savior  that  would  redeem 
Israel  from  civil  oppression,  see  any  wisdom  in  the  arrest  and  the 
murder  of  their  master  1  And  yet  his  death  redeemed  myriads 
from  spiritual  bondage,  and  from  the  endless  miseries  of  the  second 
.  death.  A  mother  is  employed  during  a  score  of  months,  in  rear- 
ing to  intelligence  a  lovely  babe ;  but  at  the  juncture  when  it  be- 
gins to  reciprocate  her  smiles,  when  it  had  entirely  entwined  her 
heart,  had  become  an  essential  ingredient  in  her  cup  of  blessings, 
she  wakes  and  finds  herself  embracing  a  lump  of  lifeless  clay.  All 
distress  and  darkness,  she  inquires,  Why  did  it  not  perish  in  the 
birth  1  Why  could  it  not  have  died  when  I  loved  it  less  1  Why 
must  it  live  till  a  mother  cannot  survive  its  death  1  And  yet,  per- 
haps this  very  event  is  the  means  of  snatching  the  mother  from 
perdition. 

In  one  word,  our  ignorance  is  the  principal  reason  why  the 
passing  events  of  providence  are  so  dark.  We  are  inadequate  to 
judge  how  it  becomes  God  to  treat  his  people,  and  how  his  ene- 
mies. And  our  duty  is  to  wait  patiently  till  the  light  of  a  brighter 
dispensation  dissipate  the  darkness  of  the  present. 

III.  One  word  on  the  promise,  "  Thou  shalt  know  hereafter." 
This  refers  us  to  the  light  of  the  last  day.  Then  Christ  will  come 
to  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  admired  in  all  them  that  believe. 
Then  all  the  events  of  Divine  providence  will  be  finished.  We  shall 
then  know  what  was  the  Divine  purpose  in  every  dispensation. 
The  cause  and  the  effect  will  approximate,  will  develope  their  con- 
nection, will  lose  their  contrariety,  will  display  their  parity,  and 
unfold  their  intricacy.  We  shall  look  no  longer  upon  one  distinct 
part  of  a  dispensation,  but  shall  see  the  whole.  What  was  to  us 
an  infinite  variety,  will  appear,  perhaps,  to  have  been  the  most 
perfect  uniformity.  Judging  then,  as  God  now  does,  we  shall  see 
that  every  event  was  happy.  The  whole  series  of  events  will  be 
finished,  and  the  holy  universe  will  have  nothing  else  to  do  but  to 
wonder  and  adore. 

REMARKS, 

1.  The  subject  is  calculated  to  render  us  modest   and  humble. 
In  a  world  managed  so  entirely  without  us,  where  we  can  know  so 
little,  and  can  predict  nothing,  we   have  very  little   cause   to  feel 
ourselves  of  much  importance,  and  have  constant  occasion  to  see 
and  feel  our  own  worthlessness. 

2.  And  yet  we  are  admonished  by  this  subject  to  be  very  cir- 


THE   WAYS   OF   GOD   UNFOLDED.  273 

cumspect  in  our  conduct.  Insignificant  as  we  may  appear  in  our 
own  eyes,  or  in  the  esteem  of  others,  we  may  do  incalculable  mis- 
chief. There  is  a  kind  of  immortality  attached  to  all  we  do.  Our 
imprudent  language  and  misdeeds  may  commence  a  train  of  mis- 
chievous operations,  ending  in  the  ruin  of  our  children  and  our 
neighbors ;  and  we  may  never  know  the  extent  of  the  mischief  till 
we  hear  them  sentenced  to  perdition,  and  perhaps  perish  with  them. 

3.  Let  the  subject  encourage  us  to  attempt  the  achievement  of 
great  good.     Causes  are  often  small  and  weak,  and  yet  the  effects 
incalculably  grand  and  glorious.     A  little  one,  under  the  Divine 
management,  may  become  a  great  nation.     If  Mordecai  had  been 
afraid  to  attempt  great  things,  the  captive  Jews  had  been  extir- 
pated, and  the  very  palace-chamber  stained  with  their  blood.     If 
we  shrink  from  the  labor  of  being  useful,  we   may  die  in  our  in- 
significance, and  God  will  give  to  others  the  honor  of  building  up 
his  kingdom. 

4.  How  capacious  beyond  conception  must  be  the  mind  of  God. 
Of  that  system  of  providence  which  we  contemplate  by  parts,  he 
takes  one  comprehensive  view,  and  manages  with  an  incontrollable 
sovereignty.     With  him  time  and  space  are  nothing  5  no  darkness 
can  obscure  his  view,  no  cloud  intercept  his  vision.     Very  obscure 
are  our  best  views  of  him,  very  low  our  thoughts,  and  very  poor 
our  noblest  affections.     In  heaven  they  behold  his  glory,  and  offer 
him  better  praise. 

5.  The  subject  must  be  full  of  comfort  to  God's  people.     The  pre- 
sent darkness  is  but  temporary,  and  the  God  whom  they  love 
manages  the  affairs  of  providence.     They  need  have  no  fear  that 
God  will  not  provide  for  their  safety  and  comfort.     He  reigns  to 
make  them  happy.     Their  interests  are  identified  with  his  own. 
He  will  guide  them  by  his  counsel,  and  afterward  receive  them  to 
glory.     There  they  may  be  delightfully  employed  for  ever  in  con- 
templating scenes,  which  now,  perhaps,  fill  them  with  alarm.    The 
danger  will  then  be  over,  the  wilderness  and  the  sea  behind,  while 
in  prospect  there  will  be   spread  out  a  boundless  and  a  blissful 
Palestine.     But  this  consolation  belongs  only  to  the  true  believer. 
The  hypocrite  will  not  arrive  at  heaven.     To  him  the  present 
darkness  will  continue,  and  become  more  and  more  dense  for  ever. 

Finally,  this  subject  offers  no  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  God. 
At  present  he  may  prosper  them,  but  they  can  have  no  hope  that 
he  loves  them.  They  are  forming  a  character  for  the  judgment, 
and  when  that  character  is  fully  formed  they  will  go  to  their  own 
place.  The  mischief  they  have  done  will  all  be  remembered,  and 
35 


274  THE    WAYS    OF   GOD    UNFOLDED. 

they  will  receive  the  due  reward  of  their  deeds.  They  can  hope 
for  no  brighter  day  than  the  present.  The  promise  in  the  text 
does  not  reach  their  case,  till  by  repentance  they  change  their  cha- 
racter. It  reads  in  the  page  of  inspiration,  and  is  a  dreadful  line, 
"  Darkness  shall  pursue  his  enemies."  The  same  cloud  that  light- 
ed the  tents  of  Jacob,  cast  impenetrable  darkness  into  the  camp 
of  the  enemy.  While  God's  people  are  destined  to  emerge  from 
the  present  darkness,  it  will  thicken  about  the  enemies  till  they 
shall  find  themselves  involved  in  the  blackness  of  darkness  for 
ever. 


SERMON  XXIII. 
THE  LOITERER  AT  THE  VINEYARD. 

MATT.   XX.   6. 

Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle. 

THE  text  is  from  the  story  of  the  vineyard,  where  laborers  were 
hired  at  the  different  hours  of  the  day,  and  where  some  were  found 
idle  even  at  the  eleventh,  and  were  set  to  work  in  the  vineyard. 
Thus  is  illustrated  the  great  work  which  we  all  have  to  do,  and 
the  importance  that  we  be  about  it  early.  The  object  of  introduc- 
ing this  parable  was  to  induce  men  to  think.  When  men  will  be- 
gin to  think,  a  very  important  object  is  gained  ;  this  thought,  how- 
ever, must  result  in  feeling,  or  nothing  radically  important  is  ef- 
fected. And  when  men  feel  they  must  act,  or  nothing  is  done  to 
any  lasting  or  important  purpose.  And  even  then  the  grand  de- 
sign of  the  gospel  is  not  answered  unless  men  act  from  right  mo- 
tives. If  men  suppose  that  God  thus  pushes  his  demands  too  far? 
they  have  only  to  be  told  that  every  human  parent  demands  all 
this  of  his  child. 

But  many  fatally  mistake  the  grand  design  of  the  gospel  and  of 
life,  and  suppose  that  some  external  morality  is  all  that  God  re- 
quires. What  then  is  the  chief  end  of  man  1  This  is  not  a  mere 
child's  question ;  but  should  be  put  to  the  youth,  to  the  middle 
aged,  and  the  man  of  gray  hairs.  We  should  put  it  to  ourselves 
in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening,  and  seven  times  a  day.  It 
should  be  written  over  the  posts  of  our  doors,  and  worn  as  a  sig- 
net upon  the  breast.  It  is  a  question  of  the  mightiest  import.  We 
learned  the  answer  when  children,  have  we  to  this  day  understood 
is  import  1  In  the  sacred  volume  the  question  is  ably  and  elo- 
quently answered.  "  God  has  made  all  things  for  himself."  He 
is  an  infinite  ocean  of  excellence,  of  wisdom,  holiness,  justice,  and 
goodness,  and  truth.  He  was  eternally  inclined  to  communicate 
his  happiness  to  creatures.  If,  therefore,  he  act  according  to  his 
nature,  he  will  make  creatures  happy.  Intending  thus  to  act,  he 
created  angels  with  great  capacities  to  contain  the  overflowings 
of  his  goodness.  He  made  man,  also,  to  share  in  the  same  bliss, 


276  THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD. 

and  join  the  angels  in  a  general  song  of  praise.  Having  made  these 
immortal  beings,  be  began  to  make  himself  known  to  them,  that 
they  might  begin  their  joy.  He  opened  before  them  the  treasures 
of  his  grace,  and  invited  them  to  partake  and  be  happy.  To  us,  he 
has  revealed  himself  in  the  volume  of  nature.  The  whole  creation 
glows  with  the  beams  of  his  love.  In  the,  still  richer  volume  of  his 
hand,  we  have  his  character  in  fairer  lines.  There  are  delineated 
the  features  of  immaculate  beauty. 

This,  then,  is  the  great  business  of  life,  to  know  and  love  our 
Creator,  and  Benefactor,  and  Preserver.  If  we  already  know 
something  of  his  excellent  glory,  and  in  some  measure  love  him, 
our  present  business  is  to  know  him  better  and  love  him  more. 

Another  part  of  our  work  is  to  promote  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  him  in  others.  Is  any  immortal  mind  benighted,  it  is  our  work 
to  find  access  to  it,  and  through  some  opening,  introduce  the  light 
of  heavenly  truth.  Is  any  heart  hardened  by  sin,  it  is  our  work  to 
place  it  beneath  the  droppings  of  the  cross,  and  let  it  there  dissolve. 
It  is  our  work  to  spread  out  before  it  the  character  of  God,  and 
give  it  opportunity,  by  our  transforming  view,  to  be  changed  to 
love.  Believing  God  to  be  an  infinite  fountain  of  good,  which  con- 
stantly overflows,  our  business  is  to  open  channels  of  communica- 
tion, that  it  may  flow  out  and  bless  the  world.  In  one  word,  this 
is  our  business,  we  are  to  use  our  time,  our  influence,  our  wealth, 
our  every  talent  in  the  grand  business  of  causing  God  to  be  known 
and  loved.  This  is  the  chief  end  of  man. 

This  is  the  work  which  every  man  must  do,  or  God  will  accuse 
him  of  standing  idle.  It  is  not  the  business  of  ministers  only. 
None  in  heaven,  earth,  or  hell,  are  exempt.  God  has  not  made 
one  creature,  that  can  be  spared  from  his  work.  Could  he  have 
spared  the  instrumentality  of  a  single  creature  which  he  has  made, 
that  creature  would  not  have  been  made.  He  would  not  have 
moulded  that  body,  he  would  not  have  infused  that  immortal  spirit 
to  be  a  mere  cumbrance  to  creation. 

No  one  can  be  excused.  Not  an  angel  can  be  spared,  not  a  man 
must  be  unemployed,  not  a  devil  but  must  advance  his  praise.  God 
must  be  known  and  loved.  Are  there  not  some  of  my  dear  read- 
ers who  have  not  yet  began  this  work  1  It  is  to  no  purpose, 
that  you  have  been  industrious ;  it  is  to  no  purpose  that  you 
have  spent  anxious  days  and  restless  nights ;  it  is  to  no  purpose 
that  you  have  heard  many  sermons,  and  attempted  many  prayers ; 
it  is  to  no  purpose  that  you  have  fed  the  poor,  and  clothed  the 
naked,  and  led  moral  lives ;  if  you  have  neglected  the  Divine  glory, 


THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD.  277 

you  have  done  nothing  in  the  account  of  God. — Will  conscience 
now  do  its  office,  do  any  of  you  feel  willing  to  acknowledge,  that 
as  yet  you  have  done  nothing  1 — To  you,  then,  I  propose  one  short 
question, — "  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?" 

I.  Is  it  because  you  know  not  what  you  have  to  do  !  Not  one  of 
you  can  make  this  plea,  you  have  had  the  Bible  in  your  hands  from 
your  infancy.  If  you  have  neglected  to  read  it,  or  if  you  have 
willingly  misunderstood  its  meaning,  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that 
God  has  given  you  a  revelation  of  his  will,  in  his  word.  The  parts 
of  that  sacred  book  which  your  memory  retains,  bears  daily  testi- 
mony against  you. 

You  have  listened  to  a  preached  Gospel.  The  ambassadors  of 
Christ  have  often  pressed  upon  you,  your  duty.  They  have  search- 
ed the  Scriptures,  and  told  you  the  will  of  God.  One  after  ano- 
ther has  Deen  sent,  till  by  their  united  efforts,  unless  you  have  ab- 
sented yourself  from  the  house  of  God,  they  have  explained  your 
whole  duty.  From  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  they  have  taken  their 
stand  in  the  sacred  desk,  and  have  published  in  your  ears  their 
heavenly  message.  .Not  only  on  the  Sabbath,  but  on  other  days 
have  you  been  invited.  Scarcely,  since  you  left  your  cradle,  has 
the  Gospel  trump  ceased  to  vibrate  upon  your  ear,  and  God  will 
have  kept  the  whole  account. 

Many  of  you  have  enjoyed  the  instructions  of  pious  parents ; 
parents  who  have  labored  from  year  to  year,  with  many  discour- 
agements, and  many  tears,  to  impress  your  minds  with  a  conviction 
of  truth  and  duty.  They  have  spoken  of  these  things  to  you, 
"  when  they  sat  in  the  house,  and  when  they  walked  by  the  way, 
when  they  lay  down,  and  when  they  rose  up :"  with  all  the  tender- 
ness of  anxious  love,  have  they  pressed  upon  you,  your  obliga- 
tions to  your  God,  and  your  dying  Savior. 

Some  of  you  had  other  friends,  who  have  been  faithful  to  your 
souls.  Perhaps  the  wife  of  your  bosom  has  awakened  you  in  the 
midnight  hour,  to  tell  you,  that  you  was  sleeping  on  the  margin  of 
the  pit.  Perhaps  a  brother  or  a  sister  has  wept  over  you,  and 
plead  with  you  to  be  reconciled  to  God. 

Had  you  enjoyed  none  of  these  means,  you  still  might  have 
known  your  duty.  You  might  have  learned  much  of  God  from 
the  works  of  nature !  For  the  invisible  things  of  him,  from  the 
creation  of  the  world,  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the 
things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead.  The 
very  heathen  are  without  excuse.  Even  the  knowledge  of  God 


278  THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD. 

which  they  may  acquire,  would  render  them  capable  of  serving 
him.  What  excuse,  then,  will  there  be  for  you  !  Indeed,  the  Af- 
rican and  Hindoo  can  tell  you,  that  your  ignorance  will  furnish 
you  no  excuse. 

You  know  that  there  is  one  only  living  and  true  God,  who  is 
your  Creator,  and  whom  you  ought  to  love  and  serve ;  assured 
that  you  are  giving  up  your  plea  of  ignorance  as  untenable,  I  again 
ask,  "  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?" 

II.  Is  it  because  it  is  not  an  important  work,  to  which  you  are 
called !  You  suppose  it,  then,  of  small  importance  whether  God 
be  honored,  or  whether  you  or  your  fellow-creatures  be  happy.  So  it 
seems,  then,  of  no  importance,  that,  what  was  God's  object  in  cre- 
ating you,  should  be  accomplished !  Should  he  think  it  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  induce  him  to  create  you,  and  will  you  think 
it  too  trifling  an  object  to  engage  your  attention  |  Can  you  possi- 
bly think  it  of  no  importance,  that  God  be  known  and  loved  by 
his  creatures  1  God  himself  is  happy  in  being  known  and  loved. 
Herein  he  acts  out  his  nature,  and  continues  his  own  immortal 
blessedness.  Where,  then,  can  be  an  object  half  so  grand ! 

The  creatures  of  God  can  never  be  happy,  except  by  knowing 
and  loving  him.  In  no  other  way,  did  ever  men  or  angels  enjoy 
true  bliss.  And  it  seems  you  are  regardless,  whether  they  are 
happy  or  not.  Are  you,  then,  willing  that  heaven  should  cease  to 
be  a  place  of  joy  and  songs !  Are  you  willing,  in  wanton  cruelty, 
to  tear  away  the  angels'  harps !  Are  you  regardless  whether  any 
of  your  fellow-creatures  ever  again  feel  the  transports  of  holy 
love !  If  so,  pray  tell  me  where  is  your  benevolence. 

In  saying  that  the  work  is  not  important  to  which  you  are  invited 
to  attend,  you  implicitly  say,  that  your  own  salvation  is  not  impor- 
tant. Is  it  then,  unimportant  that  you  have  God  for  your  friend ! 
In  times  of  affliction,  when  you  will  be  sinking  under  the  pressure 
of  grief,  will  it  be  of  no  importance  to  you,  whether  you  have  a 
God  to  support  you  !  In  the  hour  when  you  die,  can  you  grapple 
with  the  monster  alone !  Can  you  pass  undismayed  through  the 
shadow  of  death,  without  any  Divine  conductor !  Is  it  a  matter  of 
indifference  to  you,  whether  you  die  under  the  curse  of  the  law 
or  under  the  smiles  of  a  pardoning  God !  When  with  your  dying 
breath  you  cry,  "  Lord,  Lord,  open  unto  me !"  are  you  willing  to 
hear  him- say,  "  Depart,  I  never  knew  you  /"  In  the  morning  of  the 
resurrection,  would  it  not  give  you  joy,  to  have  the  Savior  meet 
you  at  the  grave,  and  bear  you  home  to  your  Father's  presence  I 


THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD.  279 

In  the  day  of  judgment,  would  you  not  be  glad  to  have  Christ  for 
your  advocate  !  Would  you  not  wish  to  hear  the  transporting  sen- 
tence, "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  father,  enter  into  the  joy  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world !"  Would  you  not  wish 
to  be  on  the  right  hand  of  the  judge !  And  when  slow  eternity  is 
rolling  away  its  ages,  would  you  not  rejoice  to  sit  among  the  re- 
deemed, and  help  them  sing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb !  Is 
it  not,  then,  an  important  work  to  which  God  invites  you  !  I  hear 
you  say,  it  is.  "  Then  why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  /" 

III.  Is  it  because  it  is  an  unreasonable  work  ?  What  then  was 
ever  reasonable  ?  You  are  required  to  attend  to  the  business  for 
which  you  were,  the  business  for  which  God  designed  you,  for 
which  he  has  prepared  you.  He  made  you  for  himself,  and  now 
only  requires  that  you  serve  him.  He  gave  you  the  faculties  you 
possess,  and  now  only  requires  you  to  use  them  as  he  directs. 
He  constantly  feeds  and  clothes  you ;  and  now  only  asks  you  to 
devote  that  life,  which  he  makes  his  care,  to  his  service.  How 
could  you  possibly  be  better  employed,  than  in  serving  and  loving 
God]  Where  is  there  an  employment  so  grand,  so  worthy  an 
immortal  creature  1  The  angels  are  thus  employed,  and  esteem  it 
an  honor.  They  think  it  reasonable,  that  their  noble  powers 
should  be  engaged  in  the  service  of  God.  And  yet  is  it  possible 
that  you  should  think  it  unreasonable  ? 

Is  it  unreasonable  that  you  should  make  exertions  for  the  salva- 
tion of  your  fellow-creatures  ?  Their  happiness  is  worth  as  much 
as  yours.  In  heaven  they  would  rejoice  as  loud  as  you ;  in  ever- 
lasting burnings  they  would  be  as  miserable  as  that  immortal 
spirit  of  yours.  They,  as  well  as  you,  are  destined  to  live  for  ever 
in  joy  or  misery.  You  would  think  it  reasonable  that  they  should 
make  exertions  to  promote  your  happiness,  then  why  not  you  to 
promote  theirs  1  Can  one,  possessed  of  real  compassion,  ,ook 
upon  a  world  ignorant  of  God,  under  the  curse  of  his  law,  going 
down  to  people  the  regions  of  eternal  despair,  and  feel  no  distress, 
and  make  no  exertions  to  save  them ! 

But  there  is  another  thought  which  I  hope  will  come  home  to 
your  hearts.  You  are  called  to  make  exertions  for  your  own  sal- 
vation. Is  it  not  reasonable  that  you  attend  to  this  matter  1  Who 
will 'attend  to  it,  if  you  neglect  if?  This  is  your  seed-time,  and 
if  you  misimprove  it,  must  you  not  expect  to  "  beg  in  harvest,  and 
have  nothing  1"  Is  it  not  a  shame  that  you  should  make  no  exer- 
tion for  yourself,  when  heaven,  and  earth,  and  hell,  are  anxious 


280  THE   LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD. 

for  you  '(  God  contrived  a  way  for  your  salvation,  Christ  died  to 
redeem  you,  angels  flew  to  bear  the  tidings  of  mercy  and  to  min- 
ister to  the  heirs  of  salvation,  the  saints  in  glory  wait  for  the  news 
of  your  conversion,  and  saints  on  earth  are  praying  for  you,  and 
pleading  with  you,  devils  are  anxious  to  keep  you  out  of  heaven. 
All  this  anxiety,  and  you  none  for  yourselves !  Tell  me  anything 
under  God's  heavens  more  unreasonable,  than  this  want  of  concern 
about  your  own  salvation. 

Is  there  any  unreasonable  sacrifice  that  religion  would  require 
of  you  1  You  are  required  to  renounce  your  sins,  to  take  up  your 
cross,  and  follow  Christ.  And  now,  in  all  this,  what  do  you  sacri- 
fice 1  For  everything  you  relinquish,  you  shall  receive  a  hundred 
fold  in  this  life.  For  your  hatred  you  will  have  love,  for  your 
pride,  humility,  for  your  stupidity  a  lively  sense  of  divine  things, 
for  your  selfishness,  a  warm  regard  for  the  welfare  of  others,  for 
Egyptian  darkness,  you  will  have  the  light  of  life,  for  your  sinful 
companions,  you  shall  have  the  warm  friendship  of  saints  and  an- 
gels, for  the  regions  of  death,  you  shall  have  the  fields  of  light. 
Where,  then,  is  the  unreasonable  sacrifice  1  Is  there  none  ?  then 

"  WHY  STAND  YE  HERE  ALL  THE  DAY  IDLE  !" 

IV.  Do  you  reply,  there  is  time  enough  yet !  This  excuse  is  the 
most  fatal  ever  offered  ;  while  others  have  slain  their  thousands, 
this  has  slain  its  tens  of  thousands.  He  that  resolves  to  neglect 
religion  today,  will  be  likely  to  neglect  it  tomorrow,  and  again  the 
next  day,  and  so  on  for  ever.  But  let  me  fairly  understand  the  ex- 
cuse. Do  you  mean  that  you  have  not  sinned  long  enough  1  that 
it  will  be  better  or  easier  to  begin  the  work  tomorrow  1  that  it 
would  be  painful  to  be  a  Christian  too  soon !  That  you  have  more 
time  than  you  need  to  prepare  for  heaven !  that  God  will  excuse 
you  from  beginning  this  work  today,  or  that  he  will  not  cut  you 
ofF,  should  you  yet  continue  in  your  sins  !  One  of  these  must  have 
been  the  ground  of  this  excuse  ;  let  us  look  at  each  of  them  in  order. 

Do  you  think  that  you  have  not  yet  continued  in  your  sins  long 
enough !  And  how  long  is  it  since  you  began  to  rebel  against 
God  1  With  some  of  you  it  is  ten  years  ;  is  not  this  a  long  time  1 
Ten  years  in  the  ranks  of  rebellion,  is  a  distressing  length  of  time. 
All  that  time  God  has  been  dishonored,  his  work  neglected,  and 
your  soul  impoverished.  All  that  time  you  have  had  no  God,  and 
have  been  miserable.  You  have  been  all  that  time  separated  from 
the  saints,  an  enemy  to  truth,  and  under  the  curse  of  God  j  now 
may  not  ten  years  of  such  misery  suffice  1  Alas !  I  fear  there  are 


THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VIWEYAB.D.  281 

some  of  my  readers  who  have  been  twenty,  and  thirty,  and  forty, 
and  sixty  years,  in  all  this  misery,  and  is  not  this  enough ! ! 

Do  you  think  the  work  will  be  easier  to  begin  tomorrow  ?  This  is 
a  mistake,  your  heart  will  then  be  harder.  It  will  have  resisted  the 
influence  of  one  more  sermon.  You  will  have  more  sin  to  repent  of. 
God  will  be  more  angry  with  you.  The  grand  enemy  will  have  you 
more  completely  within  his  power,  and  you  will  be  nearer  the  mar- 
gin of  the  pit.  Every  moment  makes  the  work  harder.  Every  mo- 
ment increases  the  probability  that  you  may  never  be  a  child  of  God. 
Why  will  it  be  better  to  begin  your  work  tomorrow  1  You  will 
then  be  one  day  back  for  ever.  You  can  never  be  so  happy 
as  though  you  had  begun  today.  If  the  soul  be  capableof  eter- 
nal progression  in  happiness,  then  one  day  lost,  puts  it  that  much 
behind  in  its  heavenly  career.  You  will  then  have  less  time  to 
do  good  in  the  world.  In  that  case  your  death-bed  will  be  more 
gloomy.  You  will  have  less  time  to  give  evidence  of  your  piety. 
You  will  have  less  time  to  conquer  your  sins.  There  never  will 
be  a  day  so  favorable  for  beginning  your  work  as  today. 

Do  you  think  it  would  be  painful  to  be  a  Christian  any  longer  than 
is  absolutely  necessary  /  And  do  you,  then,  suppose  the  Christian 
miserable  1  Is  it  painful  to  be  the  friend  of  God  !  To  be  a  joint- 
heir  with  Christ !  To  have  free  access  to  a  throne  of  grace  !  To 
have  your  name  enrolled  in  the  book  of  life  !  To  have  your  sins 
forgiven  !  To  have  a  Savior's  smiles  !  Did  Enoch,  or  Elijah,  or 
Samuel,  or  David,  find  it  unpleasant  to  walk  with  God !  My  Chris- 
tian friends,  do  you  find  it  unpleasant !  I  am  certain  that  every 
Christian  in  Europe,  and  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  America,  would 
unite  their  testimony  in  saying,  that  they  never  felt  joy  till  they 
became  the  friends  of  God. 

Do  any  of  you  suppose  that  you  have  more  time  than  you  need,  in 
order  to  prepare  for  heaven  1  This  will  appear  not  to  be  the  fact 
if  you  realize  what  must  be  done.  Old  habits  are  to  be  uprooted, 
and  new  habits  formed  ;  the  unruly  passions  subdued ;  a  know- 
ledge of  truth  acquired,  and  all  the  Christian  graces  implanted. 
We  are  naturally  very  ignorant  of  heavenly  things,  and  are  chosen 
to  salvation  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  and  belief  of  the 
truth.  "  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth."  Now  all  who  calcu- 
late to  reach  heaven,  will  need  time  to  do  all  this.  The  oldest  be- 
liever will  tell  you,  that  he  shall  hardly  be  ready  when  his  Master 
comes.  The  youngest  child,  then,  should  not  put  off  the  work  of 
repentance  a  moment. 

Will  God  excuse  you  from  beginning  the  work  today  ?     He  will  not 
36 


282  THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD. 

He  is  angry  with  the  youngest  sinner  for  having  hated  him  so  long, 
His  uniform  language  is  "  today  if  you  will  hear  his  voice,"  "  Now 
is  the  accepted  time."  His  demand  of  your  heart  is  founded  on 
his  right  to  you,  and  the  glories  that  are  in  himself  to  charm  you. 
He  will  not  excuse  any  creature  from  loving  infinite  beauty  and 
glory.  He  will  not  excuse  you  an  hour,  for  this  would  be  to 
license  sin  for  that  hour,  and  giving  up  his  rights  for  that  hour.  He 
views  himself  as  deserving  not  merely  the  service  you  can  render 
him  after  tomorrow,  but  the  additional  glory  you  can  do  him  to- 
day. 

And  if  any  hope  that  God  will  not  destroy  them  if  they  put  off 
his  service  till  tomorrow,  that  hope  has  not  the  truth  of  God  for 
its  foundation.  There  is  no  promise  of  God  that  secures  life  to 
the  sinner  for  an  hour.  And  if  he  lives,  he  cannot  be  sure  then 
of  an  offer  of  mercy.  This  very  day  God  may  give  you  over  to 
hardness  of  heart  and  blindness  of  mind,  the  man  who  is  intend- 
ing to  be  his  servant  tomorrow.  Many  a  sinner  has  dropped  into 
the  grave  in  the  very  act  of  postponing  the  concerns  of  his  soul. 
Oh !  say  not,  there  is  yet  time  sufficient. 

While  there  is  the  spirit  of  postponement  there  is  no  advance 
made  even  in  conviction,  or  if  there  should  be  some  conviction, 
this  spirit  would  destroy  it  all  in  an  hour.  To  say  the  least,  the 
mind  is  not  deeply  impressed  while  any  future  day  can  be  set  to 
turn  to  the  Lord,  or  even  a  future  hour.  The  heart  in  this  case  is 
still  wedded  to  its  idols.  He  that  would  follow  .Christ  when  he 
had  bid  forewell  to  those  that  were  at  home,  and  he  that  would 
first  bury  his  father,  were  both  in  the  .gall  of  bitterness.  We 
must  be  brought  up  to  that  tone  of  feeling  that  spurns  postpone- 
ment, else  it  is  certain  that  there  is  no  very  deep  impression  of 
any  sacred  truth.  We  exhibit  awful  proof,  if  this  is  the  state  of 
our  minds,  that  we  are  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  under  the 
bonds  of  iniquity. 

REMARKS. 

1.  The  sinner  who  has  long  been  accustomed  to  hear  and  repel 
these  sacred  truths  of  God,  and  who  is  still  unmoved  and  unawak- 
ened,  has  reason  to  fear  that  God  may  be  about  to  take  the  offer  back. 
I  cannot  have  a  doubt  but  he  does  thus  treat  hardened  sinners. 
And  in  all  this  he  does  just  as  men  do  when  occasion  requires. 
For  example,  one  merchant  makes  an  offer  to  another,  which  he 
leaves  with  him  an  hour ;  in  that  time  the  article  that  he  proposed 
to  sell  or  buy  falls  or  rises  in  the  market,  and  the  offer  is  imnie 


THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD.  283 

diately  withdrawn.  At  any  moment  till  the  proposal  is  accepted, 
it  may  be  withdrawn.  So  God,  at  any  moment  till  the  instant  of 
the  sinner's  acceptance  of  his  mercy,  may  quit  making  the  offer, 
and  then  the  sinner's  doom  is  sealed  for  ever.  Then  is  fulfilled 
that  awful  text,  "  He  flattereth  himself  in  his  own  eyes  till  his  in- 
iquities are  found  to  be  hateful."  Oh !  it  would  be  a  thousand 
times  better  for  him  now,  if  he  could  die  a  heathen,  and  lay  his 
bones  in  some  dark,  idolatrous  land,  than  to  go  down  to  hell  from 
a  Christian  territory,  where  he  had  the  word  of  the  Lord,  line  upon 
line,  and  precept  upon  precept. 

2.  How  horrid  will  be  those  regrets  with  which  the  sinner  will 
review  all  this  on  the  bed  of  death,  and  onward  through  a  tardy 
and  thinking  eternity.  He  cannot  but  remember  how  often  he  was 
invited  to  enter  and  labor  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  and  how 
tender,  and  how  tearful,  and  pressing  were  many  of  these  invitings. 
1  have  supposed  that  the  sinner  must  be  for  ever  thinking  all  this 
over,  and  recounting  every  new  moon,  and  every  Sabbath  day, 
the  years  and  the  ages  of  misery  that  still  remain  till  he  has  paid 
theidebt. 

And  not  merely  will  he  regret  that  he  lost  so  much  time,  but  that 
he  has  lost  the  best  time.  He  has  lost  the  morning  of  life.  How 
promptly  might  his  great  work  have  been  done,  and  all  done,  and 
time  to  spare,  if  he  had  gone  into  the  vineyard  at  the  rising  of  the 
sun.  He  might  have  been  now  a  tall  and  shining  spirit  in  the 
fields  of  light,  and  might  have  vied  with  angels  in  every  song  they 
sing,  and  in  every  excursion  of  love  with  which  they  fill  up  the 
lustrums  of  their  blissful  eternity.  Their  youth  will  be  renewed  in 
heaven,  but  not  so  in  the  dark  world ;  their  age  will  grow  older, 
and  their  very  youth  be  haggard.  Oh,  could  you  see  a  spirit  that 
has  writhed  one  thousand  years  under  the  regrets  of  the  pit,  and 
sighed,  and  wept,  and  groaned,  under  the  withering  blasts  that 
have  been  spending  their  fury  upon  his  soul,  you  would  see  the 
most  blighted  and  pitiable  wretch  in  all  the  creation  of  God. 

This  sight  may  you  never  see, 
This  wretch  may  you  never  be. 

Even  should  you  hereafter  see  the  kingdom  of  God,  you  must 
be  the  subject  of*  deep  chagrin  that  you  did  not  enter  earlier. 
Then  you  might  have  had  more  time  to  labor,  and  your  Master 
might  have  reaped  through  you  a  larger  revenue  of  praise.  One 
would  regret,  if  regrets  may  be  in  heaven,  that  he  should  have 
been  called  home  before  he  had  time  to  shine  bright,  and  rise  high 


284  THE   LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD. 

in  the  school  of  Christ  below.  If  in  such  circumstances  one  might 
reach  heaven,  he  would  wish  an  opportunity  to  weep  before  he 
begun  his  everlasting  song. 

3.  The  invitation  is  not  one  to  pain,  or  danger,  or  misery.  One 
would  think  that  the  invitation  to  labor  in  the  vineyard  must  be 
an  invitation  to  misery,  in  one  shape  or  another,  and  not  to  bless- 
edness /  but  the  fact  is,  that  the  work  is  that  which  blesses  the 
soul  beyond  any  other.  If  you  find  one  with  nothing  to  do,  just 
set  him  at  the  service  of  the  Lord,  in  his  vineyard,  and  you  make 
him  happy.  Let  him  do  whatsoever  his  hands  find  to  do  with  his 
might,  and  you  remove  whatever  was  the  cause  of  his  miseries. 
In  the  work  of  God  the  body  is  kept  in  health,  and  the  mind  is 
put  into  its  healthiest  and  happiest  condition.  It  is  a  work  in 
which  life  would  be  prolonged  beyond  any  other  condition  under 
the  heavens.  "  Wisdom's  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all 
her  paths  are  peace."  "  Godliness  is  profitable  to  all  things,  hav- 
ing the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to 
come." 

But  there  are  a  thousand  reasons,  a  thousand  times  told,  why 
men  should  not  permit  the  invitation  of  the  text  to  fall  but  once  upon 
their  ear.  Their  dutiful  reply  should  be,  forthwith,  "  I  go,  sir." 
May  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  set  home  all  this  upon  the  con- 
science and  the  heart  of  all  my  readers,  and  thus  conduct  us  all 
safely  on  to  the  time  when  the  Master  shall  come,  and  the  reapers 
shall  be  reckoned  with,  and  shall  receive,  through  grace,  their 
penny  a  day. 

God  does  not  call  you  to  a  painful  and  laborious  work.  Even  in 
the  work  of  repentance,  that  must  begin  the  service,  there  is 
nothing  painful.  God  does  not  require  you  to  unsay  any  thing 
that  you  have  said  that  was  right,  any  thing  that  you  can  think  on 
with  pleasure  in  the  slow-moving  ages  of  your  eternity.  Nor  does 
he  ask  you  to  undo  anything  but  that  which  you  never  should  have 
done.  You  had  but  one  Master  to  serve,  but  one  grand  service  to 
do,  to  bless  your  Maker,  and  honor  your  kind  and  generous  Ben- 
efactor, and  wait  to  know  his  will,  and  do  whatsoever  he  requires. 
And  when  you  had  been  a  little  time  thus  faithful,  he  would  have 
taken  you  to  himself,  and  made  you  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of 
himself  for  ever,  in  his  high  and  holy  kingdom.  There  was  nothing 
that  we  can  see  in  the  long  vista  of  your  eternity  that  would  have 
revolved  around  a  painful  hour,  or  brought  over  your  bright  and 
glorious  prospect  a  cloud  as  large  as  a  man's  hand,  as  long  as  God 
shall  live.  Thus  there  would  have  opened  before  you  a  field  of 


THE    LOITERER    AT    THE    VINEYARD.  285 

day,  and  a  scene  of  pleasure  broad  as  the  whole  period  of  your 
being.  Then  how  sweet  your  immortal  song  would  have  been 
while  you  vied  with  angels  in  your  ascriptions  of  honor,  and  glory, 
and  power  to  him  that  loved  you,  and  washed  you  from  your  sins 
in  his  blood. 

5.  And  there  had  been  no  dangers  lurking  about  your  path.    God 
would  have  given  you  one  promise  that  would  have  spread  over 
you  a  safe  and  broad  pavilion  that  would  have  covered  the  whole 
field  of  the  vineyard.     "  I  will  never  leave  thee,  I  will  never  for- 
sake thee."     Then  you  might  have  labored  on,  and  won  as  many 
souls  to  Christ  as  Brainerd  did,  and  Schwartz  did,  and  Paul  did, 
and  then  might  have  gone  in  with  them,  and  *sat  down  with  them 
at  the  banquet  of  your  Master.     There  had  not  been  a  serpent  in 
all  the  field  to  bite,  nor  a  storm  had  gathered  to  beat  you  off  from 
your  work,  and  you  would  have  sung  many  a  song  to  while  away 
the  hours  of  toil,  and  finally  sung  the  harvest  home  in  accents  sweet 
as  angels  use,  and  the  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand  would 
have  gladly  joined  you  in  shouting  a  loud  and  long  amen. 

6.  And  there  is  no  need  that  I  say,  the  labor  to  which  you  are 
called  by  the  Master  of  the  vineyard  is  not  a  service  that  would 
tire  you  as  in  the  natural  harvest.     I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
body  may  not  tire  and  need  rest.     The  spirit  may  be  willing  while 
the  flesh  is  weak.     But  the  work  is  not  of  that  servile  character 
that  wears  out  the  soul.     And  there  is  a  timely  rest  provided.    And 
in  the  very  field  there  are  put  the  needed  and  the  timely  refresh- 
ments.    "  He  shall  drink  of  the  brook  in  the  way,  so  shall  he  lift 
up  his  head."     Those  who  have  labored  long  in  the  vineyard,  and 
have  encountered  many  a  tedious  storm,  many  a  scorching  sun, 
and  many  a  withering  blast,  will  come  home  at  the  last  all  fresh 
for  the  rest  of  heaven,  and  will  sit  down  and  drink  the  wine  new 
with  their  Lord  at  his  upper  table  in  the  skies. 

There  all  the  laborers  will  meet  and  bask  in  everlasting  sunshine 
by  the  ranges  of  the  trees  of  life  ;  and  their  song  will  be,  "  Bless- 
ed be  the  Lord  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  and  blessed  be  his  glorious 
name  for  ever,  and  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  his  glory. 
Amen  and  amen." 


SERMON    XXIV. 
CHRIST  MUST  HAVE  HIS  OWN  PLACE  IN  HIS  GOSPEL. 

LUKE  IX.  iJO. 
Whom  say  ye  that  I  am  ? 

ADMITTING  the  fact,  that  men  may  speculate  correctly,  while 
their  hearts  are  unsanctified ;  or  to  some  extent  ^correctly,  after 
they  are  born  of  God ;  still  it  is  a  general  truth,  that  men  will  be, 
in  their  moral,  and  in  their  religious  character,  corrupt  or  correct, 
in  the  same  proportion  with  their  creed.  If  on  any  important  sub- 
ject they  believe  a  lie,  their  false  faith  will  present  to  their  hearts 
wrong  motives  of  action,  and  lead  to  those  affections,  and  that 
course  of  conduct,  that  is  in  opposition  to  the  law  of  God,  and  the 
precepts  of  the  gospel.  But  if  men  believe  the  truth,  though  it  be 
not  with  the  heart  unto  righteousness,  still  that  truth  may  exert, 
at  some  future  day,  a  sanctifying  effect  upon  them,  and  the  creed 
adopted,  through  the  Spirit's  influence,  mould  them  into  the  image 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  if  there  is  one  subject,  rather  than 
any  other,  on  which  a  serious  man  would  guard  the  correctness  of 
his  faith,  it  must  be  relative  to  the  character  of  the  Savior  he  trusts 
in  for  eternal  life.  It  must  be  essential,  that  we  put  our  trust  in 
the  very  Redeemer  that  God  has  revealed ;  else  how  can  we  hope 
that  he  will  acknowledge  us,  when  he  shall  come  in  the  glory  of 
his  Father,  with  the  holy  angels. 

Can  it  be  otherwise,  than  a  very  important  thing,  to  the  human 
family,  to  understand  distinctly,  his  nature  and  character,  in  whom 
they  are  invited  to  take  sanctuary  from  the  wrath  to  come  ?  Hence, 
to  know  that  the  gospel  proclaimed  to  us,  presents  the  very  Lord 
Jesus,  through  whose  stripes  we  must  be  healed,  will  be  a  question 
of  minor  importance  to  none,  who  calculate  first  or  last,  to  turn 
their  eye  toward  heaven. 

In  Christ's  little  family,  this  subject  was  early  and  earnestly  agi- 
tated. Our  Lord  would  not  suffer  his  disciples  to  be  ignorant  on 
this  point.  "  He  asked  them  saying,  Whom  say  the  people  that  I 
am'?  They  answering,  said,  John  the  Baptist;  but  some  say, 


CHRIST    MUST    HAVE    HIS    OWN    PLACE    IN    HIS    GOSPEL.  287 

Elias ;  and  others  say,  that  one  of  the  old  prophets  is  risen  again." 
He  then  brought  the  question  home  to  their  own  bosom,  "  Whom 
say  ye  that  I  am  V  Said  the  prompt  and  affectionate  Peter,  "  The 
Christ  of  God." 

This  subject  is  of  high  and  increasing  importance,  at  a  period, 
when  it  is  becoming  so  fashionable,  to  consider  it  of  no  conse- 
quence what  we  think  of  Christ.  It  will  not  be  so  much  my  ob- 
ject to  exhibit  proofs  of  his  divinity,  as  to  show,  that  whatever  his 
character  may  be,  it  is  important  that  we  have  correct  views  of 
him.  I  shall  arrange  my  thoughts  under  three  general  remarks  : 
The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  a  fixed  and  definite  character :  This 
character  is  plainly  revealed :  If  we  trust  in  a  Savior,  having  any 
other  character  than  that  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  will  not  consider  this  trust  as  reposed  in  him,  and  we  shall 
be  in  danger  of  perishing  in  unbelief. 

1.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  a  fixed  and  definite,  character.  It 
would  hardly  seem  necessary  to  state  a  proposition  like  this,  much 
less  to  attempt  to  establish  it  by  argument,  as  it  contains  in  itself 
its  own  confirmation.  The  scriptures  have  given  this  name  to  the 
promised  Messiah,  who,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  must  have  a 
character  so  definite,  that  he  can  be  known  by  his  name.  But  if 
the  name  may  apply,  with  equal  propriety,  to  one  who  is  divine, 
angelic,  or  human,  here  it  seems  to  me  is  the  end  of  all  knowledge 
on  this  subject.  Place  other  subjects  of  revelation  on  the  same 
footing,  and  we  can  only  guess  at  any  thing.  ' 

The  very  idea  of  a  revelation  implies,  that  there  are  truths  re- 
vealed, but  nothing  is  revealed,  if  revealed  so  indefinitely  that  we 
cannot  arrive  at  knowledge  on  the  subject.  As  well  might  the 
Bible  have  merely  named  the  Savior,  if  after  all  it  has  said  of  him, 
we  can  know  only  his  name ;  especially  if  it  be  an  equal  chance, 
whether  we  shall  conceive  of  him  as  one  of  the  Three  that  bear 
record  in  heaven,  or  a  worm  of  the  dust  like  ourselves.  If  God 
has  told  me  only  the  name  of  the  Redeemer,  and  this  is  all  the 
definite  knowledge  I  can  have  of  him,  I  may  be  so  infatuated  as  to 
apply  this  name  to  a  comet  or  a  star,  and  affirm  that  God  intended 
I  should  trust  in  this  for  salvation.  If  he  has  left  it  to  my  discre- 
tion to  adorn  the  name  with  attributes  such  as  I  would  choose  my 
Savior  should  possess,  then  it  is  manifest  that  no  two  might  trust 
in  the  same  Redeemer. 

But  there  is  an  absurdity  in  the  very  supposition.  Every  thing 
that  has  being,  has  properties  that  are  essential  to  its  being,  of 
which,  if  you  disrobe  it,  you  take  away  its  very  essence.  Thus  it 


288  CHRIST    MUST    HAVE    HIS    OWN    PLACE. 

must  be  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  You  may  call  by  that  name 
a  being,  so  divested  of  the  attributes  that  belong  to  the  Savior, 
that  he  shall  cease  to  be  the  Savior  God  has  revealed,  and  be  as 
entirely  another  as  if  he  had  had  another  name.  The  identity  of 
being  is  not  in  the  name  but  in  the  nature  or  attributes  that  belong 
to  it.  I  remark, 

II.  The  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  plainly  revealed  in 
the  word  of  God.  We  might  infer  from  this  fact,  that  the  Bible  is 
a  revelation  from  God ;  and  that  the  principal  subject  of  develop- 
ment in  that  Book  is  the  Savior.  The  Bible  was  given  to  us  to 
make  Christ  known,  that  we  might  take  sanctuary  in  him  from  the 
wrath  to  come.  Hence,  to  suppose  that  his  character  is  left  so 
indefinitely  developed  that  we  can  know  nothing  with  certainty 
respecting  him,  is  to  suppose  God  to  trifle.  There  is  an  impu- 
dence and  a  daring  in  the  very  supposition  that  causes  the  mind 
to  shrink  from  naming  it. 

Moreover  on  opening  the  Bible  I  do  see  the  character  of  the 
Savior,  as  definitely  developed  as  any  others  of  the  subjects  of 
revelation.  I  see  distinctly  his  humanity,  in  that  he  had  a  body 
and  a  soul  as  men  have.  He  hungered,  thirsted,  slept,  was  weary  j 
could  suffer,  could  rejoice ;  he  spoke,  and  walked,  and  rode,  and 
bled,  and  died.  And  I  see  as  distinctly  his  divinity.  He  created 
all  things,  could  make  the  bread  and  the  wine  that  sustained  him, 
could  know  the  hearts  of  men,  could  heal  the  sick,  and  raise  the 
dead,  and  give  sight  to  the  blind,  and  still  the  waves  of  the  sea. 
And  I  will  name  one  text,  among  many,  in  which  he  is  predicted 
with  all  these  characteristics :  "  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a 
son  is  given :  and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder :  and 
his  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God, 
the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  Here  the  same  per- 
sonage, who  was  a  child  and  a  son,  is  also  the  Wonderful,  Coun- 
sellor, the  mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

But  on  this  point  I  will  only  stop  to  say,  that  on  no  particular  is 
the  Bible  more  full  and  plain  than  on  this.  On  none  of  the  doc- 
trines or  duties  of  religion  have  we  instruction  more  definite.  I 
may  as  well  doubt  what  repentance  is,  and  what  faith  is,  and  what 
love  is,  and  what  prayer  is,  as  who  Christ  is.  I  can  explain  away 
the  truth  on  any  point  as  readily  as  relative  to  the  character  of  the 
Savior.  And  moreover  on  every  point  the  truth  hasten  doubted, 
and  mistakes  as  essential  made,  as  on  this  point.  Men  who  are 


IN    HIS    GOSPEL.  289 

not  willing  that  the  Bible  should  govern  their  faith,  have  missed 
the  mark  infinitely  on  every  doctrine  of  revelation. 

III.  If  we  trust  in  a  Savior  having  any  other  character  than  that 
given  in  the  Bible  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  will  not  accept  this 
trust,  as  reposed  in  himself ;  and  we  shall  be  in  danger  of  perishing. 
If  Christ  has  a  definite  character,  and  he  must  have,  or  he  can 
neither  be  known  or  trusted  in ;  and  if  his  character  is  revealed 
plainly,  and  this  must  be,  or  it  is  no  harm  not  to  know  him,  or  to 
have  erroneous  views  of  him ;  then  it  must  be  essential  that  we 
trust  in  the  very  Christ  revealed.  If  in  these  circumstances  we  be- 
lieve him  to  be  possessed  of  a  character  that  he  has  not,  if  we 
invest  him  with  attributes  that  he  will  not  own,  or  detract  from 
him  the  essential  and  eternal  properties  of  his  nature  ;  will  he  pity 
our  weakness,  and  own,  as  confidence  in  him,  the  trust  we  place  in 
a  Savior  created  by  our  imaginations  1  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is 
the  fatal  error  which  multitudes  in  the  present  day  are  persuaded 
to  adopt.  It  has  in  its  favor  the  plea  of  Catholicism.  We  can 
thus  fellowship  the  whole  mass  of  nominal  Christianity ;  and  on 
the  same  principles  can  even  go  farther,  and  place  the  image  of 
the  Savior  in  the  temples  of  the  gods,  and  embrace  in  one  univer- 
sal brotherhood,  the  whole  multitude  of  idolaters  that  have  ever 
bowed  the  knee  at  the  shrine  of  devils. 

On  the  same  principle,  that  no  harm  comes  to  our  piety  from 
erroneous  views  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  can  prove  that  God 
has  been  pleased  with,  and  has  accepted,  every  act  of  worship  that 
has  ever  been  paid  to  an  idol.  What  is  an  idol,  but  the  Supreme 
so  degraded  that  he  ceases  to  be  Divine  1  and  still  not  more  degrad- 
ed than  is  the  character  of  the  Savior  in  many  a  modern  creed. 
What  was  Jupiter,  but  Jehovah  disrobed  of  his  essential  attributes. 
His  worshippers  did  not  reduce  him  down  to  a  mere  man.  They 
gave  him  supremacy  over  the  whole  family  of  gods — allowed  him 
to  wield  the  thunders  of  heaven,  and  decree  the  destiny  of  nations. 
True,  they  did  not  give  him  a  very  pure  moral  character,  but  the 
best  they  knew  how  to  give  him.  They  invested  him  with  some 
of  the  very  worst  of  the  human  passions,  and  made  him  commit 
the  foulest  deeds  of  wrong  and  of  outrage.  But  still,  who  can  say, 
on  the  principle  that  it  matters  not  what  we  think  of  Christ,  that 
the  worshippers  of  Jupiter  were  not  accepted  of  the  Lord  as  his 
own  worshippers.  If  they  called  their  great  spirit  by  names  that 
God  has  never  appropriated  to  himself,  this  it  will  be  acknowledg- 
ed is  a  verbal  mistake,  a  small  matter,  that  God  will  not  regard,  in 
37 


290  CHRIST    MUST    HAVE    HIS    OWN    PLACE 

those  who  had  not  the  means  of  knowing  the  names,  by  which  he 
could  choose  to  be  invoked.  But  shall  we  go  on  and  say,  that  as 
they  gave  their  supreme  deity. the  highest  character  they  kne\v 
how  to  give  him,  although  they  did  not  invest  him  with  the  attri- 
butes essential  to  the  true  God,  and  made  him  finally  a  creature,  in 
moral  character  base  and  deformed  : — Shall  we  still  say,  that  Jeho- 
vah was  pleased  with  the  spirit  of  their  worship,  approved  their 
rites,  and  accepted  their  homage  1  I  see  not  why,  on  the  princi- 
ples of  modern  Catholicism,  this  reasoning  is  not  correct,  and  why 
the  whole  herd  of  idolaters,  in  all  ages,  have  not  been  accepted  of 
the  Lord,  as  having  intended  to  pay  their  supreme  homage  to  him. 
If  what  an  apostle  says  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  true,  and 
"  By  him  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are 
in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  do- 
minions, or  principalities,  or  powers  ;  all  things  were  created  by 
him  and  for  him  ;  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all  things 
consist .:"— if  all  this  be  true,  I  see  not  but  those  who  give  him  a 
derived  and  dependant  existence,  alter  the  character  as  essentially, 
from  that  which  the  apostle  gives  him,  as  was  the  character  of  Ju- 
piter distinct  from  that  of  Jehovah.  What  two  things  can  be 
more  unlike,  than  a  Savior  who  had  no  beginning  of  days,  is  self- 
existent,  and  almighty,  could  create  men  and  build  worlds ;  and 
one  who  himself  began  to  be,  is  dependant,  and  has  none  but  bor- 
rowed attributes.  I  do  not  see  that  the  heathen  Jove,  and  the  Goji 
of  heaven,  differ  any  more. 

If  then  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  possesses  one  of  these  characters, 
and  we  trust  in  a  Savior  who  possesses  the  other,  and  the  Bible 
has  plainly  revealed  him  in  whom  we  are  to  trust,  it  hardly  ad- 
mits of  a  question  whether  we  do  not  trust  in  another  than  the 
Christ  of  the'  gospel.  It  is  not  merely  in  the  name  of  the  Savior 
that  we  trust,  but  in  his  attributes,  in  his  qualifications  to  atone  for 
us,  in  his  power  to  sanctify  us,  in  the  credit  he  has  in  heaven  to 
intercede  for  us,  in  his  ability  to  subdue  our  enemies,  and  cover 
us  with  his  righteousness  in  the  day  of  retribution  ;  but  if  he  be 
not  God  as  well  as  man,  he  has  no  such  qualifications  to  atone,  no 
such  power  to  sanctify,  no  such  influence  to  intercede,  no  such 
ability  to  defend,  or  righteousness  to  cover  us  ;  h/;nce  there  is  no 
such  Savior  as  him  in  whom  we  trust. 

Agreed,  if  you  please,  that  the  error  will  be  equally  fatal  on 
either  side.  Be  it  it  so  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  a  mere  attri- 
bute, an,  emanation,  an  angel,  or  a  man  ;  then  do  those  who  give 
him  a  divine  nature  make  a  mistake  as  great,  as  is.  made  by 


IN    HIS    GOSPEL.  291 

their  opponents,  if  he  be  as  the  prophet  asserts,  the  mighty  God, 
the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace.  If  he  be  a  mere  crea- 
ture, in  whom  God  has  directed  us  to  put  our  trust  for  everlasting 
life ;  and  that  creature  has  power  delegated  to  him,  to  pay  the 
price  of  our  redemption,  and  purify  us  unto  himself  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple, zealous  of  good  works ;  and  we  resolve  to  trust  in  a  Savior, 
who  possesses  divine  attributes  ;  we  then  rely  upon  one  who  is  not 
revealed  as  the  Savior,  and  may  have  no  more  hope  of  acceptance, 
than  those  have  if  the  opposite  creed  be  true,  who  in  their  faith 
depress  his  character,  as  much  as  in  this  case  we  elevate  it. 

If  the  Lord  Jesus  has  a  fixed  and  definite  character,  has 
properties  or  attributes,  of  which  if  we  disrobe  him,  we  alter  es- 
sentially his  nature,  and  make  him  another  Savior  ;  then  the  ques- 
tion is,  whether  those  who  trust  in  him,  under  these  essentially 
altered  characters,  may  all  be  said  to  trust  in  the  same  Redeemer  I 
May  a  mistake  like  this  be  considered  venial  1  If,  too,  God  has 
given  us  in  his  word  a  plain  and  intelligible  record/of  his  will,  and 
may  not,  as  it  seems  to  me,  be  considered  as  having  described  the 
character  of  the  Savior  so  indefinitely,  as  to  render  it  about  an 
equal  chance,  whether  we  shall  conceive  of  him  as  human  or  di- 
vine 5  then  must  it  admit  of  a  serious  doubt,  whether  any  radical 
mistake  can  be  made,  without  placing  the  soul  at  hazard. 

God  must  have  intended  that  we  should  have  definite  views  of 
Christ ;  arid  if  he  has  given  us  opportunity  to  be  correct,  it  argues 
positive  wickedness,  not  to  receive  the  truth  of  God  in  all  its  na- 
ked simplicity.  If  he  has  revealed  a  divine  Savior,  Ve  perish  if  we 
trust  in  one  that  is  a  creature  ;  or  if,  contrary  to  the  light,  we  be- 
lieve him  divine,  then  do  we  rely  on  some  other,  than  that  only 
name  given  under  heaven  among  men,  whereby  we  can  be  saved. 
No  trust  can  possibly  avail  us,  but  that  which  is  placed  in  the  very 
Savior  whom  God  has  revealed.  Let  me  place  the  two  Saviors  in 
opposite  columns,  and  see  if  an  honest  mind  can  make  them  one. 

The  one  Savior,    was  before  all  The  other  savior,  had  a  beginning 

things,  and  all  things  were  created  by  of  days,  and  either  emanated  from 

him  and  for  him.     He  has  the  titles,  God  or  was  created  by  him.     He  has 

possesses   the    attributes,   does   the  divine  titles  only  as  men  have,  who 

works,  and  accepts  the  worship,  that  are  called  gods  ;  has  only  borrowed 

belong  only  to  the  true  God.     He  in-  attributes,  and  a  delegated    power, 

vites  sinners  to  him,  as  having  in  his  and  is  worshipped  only  as  kings  and 

own  arm  the  power  to  save  them,  and  emperors  are.     We  may  not  pray  to 

promises  them  blessings,  as  having  him,  lest  we  be  guilty  of  idolatry ;  he 

them  of  his  own  to  give.     "  He  that  promises  nothing  but  as  the  Lord's 

believeth  in  me  shall  never  die."   He  prophet,  and  has  no  blessings  of  his 

"  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  own  to  give.    We  are  not  required  to 


292  CHRIST    MUST    HAVE    HIS    OWN    PLACE 

tree."    "  With   his    stripes   we   are  believe  in  him,  but  as  we  believe  in 

healed."     "The  Lord  hath  laid  on  Moses  and  John.   He  makes  no  atone- 

him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."    The  re-  ment,  but  merely  teaches  truth,  and  is 

deemed  in  heaven  will  for  ever  ascribe  a  pattern  of  virtue.     He  dies,  not  that 

to  him,  under  the  appellation  of  the  we  might  live,  and  meets  us  again  in 

Lamb,  kingdom,  and  power,  and  glo-  the  last  day,  not  to  judge  the  world, 

ry.     The  dying  believers  may  with  unless  as  a  subaltern,  but  to  be  judged. 

Stephen  commend  to  him  their  de-  He  will  wear  no  crown,  and  fill  no 

parting  spirit.     In  the  last  day    he  throne  in  heaven,  other  than  such  as 

will  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  are  promised  the  apostles ;  and  will 

with  his  holy  angels,  and  will  judge  receive  no  worship  but  the  respect 

the  world,  and  fix  the  destinies  of  all  due  to  an  eminent  servant  of  God. 

men ;  and  be  for  ever  afterward  adored,  And  if  the  dying  commend  their  spi  - 

by  the  myriads  of  the  redeemed,  as  rit  to  him  they  assuredly  perish, 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain. 

Now  the  mighty  question  is,  are  these  two  the  same  I  Are  they 
so  the  same  that  the  trust  reposed  in  the  one,  will  be  accepted  and 
answered  to,  if  needs  be,  by  the  other.  If  but  one  of  these  Saviors 
is  revealed,  and  but  one  exists,  and  we  have  put  our  trust  in  that 
other,  are  we  still  safe  1  Say  we  have  cast  our  souls  upon  a  cre- 
ated Savior,  shall  we  find  at  last,  that  we  have  an  interest  in  that 
self-existent  Redeemer,  who  comes  traveling  in  the  greatness  of 
his  strength,  and  is,  independently  on  any  extraneous  help,  mighty 
to  save  1  If  of  the  one  it  may  be  said,  this  is  the  only  name  giv- 
en under  heaven  among  men  whereby  we  can  be  saved,  will  this 
be  equally  true  of  the  other  I  I  repeat  the  question,  for  it  is  to 
me  a  mighty  one,  Can  it  be  of  no  consequence,  to  which  of  the 
two  I  look,  and  in  which  I  trust  for  eternal  life  1  Will  the  blood 
of  either  cleanse  me  from  all  sin  1  If  the  Savior  appointed  me  and 
distinctly  revealed  in. the  Bible,  has  life  in  himself,  and  the  power 
of  conferring  eternal  life  on  as  many  as  the  Father  has  given  him ; 
and  I  have  trusted  in  man,  and  made  flesh  my  arm,  I  fear  it  will 
not  answer  me  the  same  purpose  in  the  day  of  retribution,  as  if  I 
had  made  application  to  the  true,  the  appointed,  the  eternal  Re- 
deemer. 

It  is  agreed,  that  if  there  be  no  Trinity  of  persons  in  the  God- 
head, and  the  Savior  proffered  is  a  mere  creature,  and  we  refuse  to 
lean  upon  the  appointed  arm  of  flesh,  and  obstinately  insist  on 
having  an  almighty  Savior  or  none,  our  condition  is  deplorable. 
We  shall  then  be  without  a  hiding  place  in  the  day  of  our  distress. 
If  the  Savior  be  God,  those  perish  who  esteem  him  a  creature  ;  and 
if  a  creature,  those  perish  who  believe  him  God.  One  of  the  par- 
ties in  this  controversy  is  to  lie  down  in  everlasting  sorrow,  one 
only  will  be  in  heaven.  Else  two  beings,  the  one  finite,  and  the 
other  infinite,  are  the  same,  and  Jupiter  and  Moloch,  and  Baal,  and 


IN    HIS   GOSPEL.  293 

Jehovah  are  the  same,  and  the  worshippers  of  idols,  in  every  dark 
place  of  the  earth,  may  claim  at  last  a  seat  in  heaven,  with  Abra- 
ham, and  Moses,  and  the  prophets  and  apostles. 

Can  this  be  true  1  I  see  no  radical  error  in  the  reasoning  that 
has  brought  me  to  this  result,  and  am  led  to  ask,  with  all  the  seri- 
ousness with  which  a  question  ever  dropped  from  my  lips,  am  I 
safe  in  either  case  1  Has  the  gracious  Jehovah  given  me  a  reve- 
lation, in  which  he  has  so  indefinitely  described  my  Redeemer, 
that  with  all  my  anxiety  to  know,  I  cannot,  whether  he  built  the 
worlds,  or  was  himself  a  part  of  the  creation  1  whether  the  go- 
vernment is  upon  his  shoulder,  or  he  himself  subjected  to  the  au- 
thority of  his  superior  1  whether  he  can  bestow  eternal  life,  or 
need  to  have  his  own  life  sustained  by  the  power  that  breathed  it  1 
whether  he  will  judge  the  world,  or  will  stand  to  be  judged,  by  a 
greater  than  himself,  who  shall  then  fill  the  throne  1  I  shall  be 
anxious  for  my  soul  till  I  know  the  truth. 

0,  will  the  blessed  God  give  to  a  world  like   ours,   already  des- 
perately ruined,   a  revelation  of  his  will,  and  mock  our  helpless- 
ness, by  asserting  it  to  be  so  plain,  that  the  wayfaring  man  though 
a  fool  shall  not  err,  and  still  when  I  labor  to  know  the  truth  with 
all  my  soul,  I  cannot  find  it ! !     But  I  must  either  take  this  ground, 
or  believe  myself  lost,  or  believe  those  lost,  who  I  perceive  trust  in 
quite  another  savior,  than  him  on  whom  I  rely.     There   is  one 
thought  that  gives  me  relief,  "  Let  God  be  true,   though  every 
man  a  liar."     The  Bible  is  a  plain  and  intelligible  volume  j  the 
Savior's  character  is  there  definitely  revealed  j  and  we  can  learn 
who  he  is,  and  what  he  is,  unless  we  choose  to  be  deceived.     May 
the  exalted  Jesus   smile   on  this  weak  attempt   to   vindicate  his 
character,  and  may  he  sanctify  the  men  who  would  tear  the  crown 
from  his  head,  and  worlds  from  his  rule  ;  and  make  his  way  known 
upon  the  earth,  and  his  saving  health  among  all  nations.     May  a 
great  multitude,  that  no  man  can  number,  be  redeemed  to  God  by 
his  blood,  out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation 

If  asked  the  reasons  why  I  consider  the  subject  so  important  1 
and  press  it  so  vehemently  1  I  answer, 

1.  With  the  views  I  have  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  consider  him 
shamefully  traduced  by  the  error  I  have  meant  to  expose.     It  cannot 
seem  to  me  a  light  thing,  if  the  safety  of  souls  were  not  affected, 
what  men  think  of  Christ ;  whether  they  give  him  the  honor  he 
had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  or  make  him  a  weak  and 
dependant  mortal ;  whether  they  esteem  him  such  that  he  thought 
it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  or  the  mere  wandering  Gal- 


294  CHRIST    MUST    HAVE    HIS    OWN    PLACE 

lilean,  who  gathered  his  honors  from  the  success  he  had  in  teach- 
ing truth  and  in  making  disciples.  If  we  have  given  him  our 
hearts,  we  shall  not  be  willing  to  see  him  degraded.  We  shall 
wish  him  to  retain  all  the  titles  that  belong  to  him,  and  be  owned 
in  all  the  high  and  holy  offices  he  fills,  and  wear  in  the  view  of 
men,  all  the  glories  that  cluster  round  him  in  the  view  of  angels. 
We  shall  feel  ourselves  so  honored,  in  being  permitted  to  call  him 
Lord,  as  to  be  greatly  grieved  when  the  tongue  of  slander,  or  the 
pen,  dipped  in  the  gall  of  depravity,  shall  attempt  to  degrade  his 
nature  or  mar  his  honors.  A  Christian  needs  offer  no  other  rea- 
son for  vindicating  his  Lord,  but  that  he  loves  him.  But, 

2.  I  offer  another :  /  consider  souls  endangered  by  a  denial  of  the 
Deity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     I  cannot  believe  that   when  the 
Savior  has  become  a  man  or  an  angel,  he  will  attract  sinners  to 
him,  as  when  he  has  the  glories  on,  that  I  suppose  the  angels  see 
about  him.    Let  him  have  the  same  character  that  he  has  in  heaven, 
and  he  will  attract  men  to  him,  as  there  he  attracts  angels  to  him. 
If  he  be  God,  they  will  hope  that  he  can  save  them;   if  he  built 
the  worlds,  they  will  be  the  more  willing  to  believe,  that  he  built 
some  happy  world  for  them  ;  and  if  he  is  at  last  to  be  their  judge? 
they  will  feel  it  to  be  the  more  important,   that  they   be  washed 
from  sin  in  his  blood.     I  should  not  hope  to  win  a  single  soul  to 
him  in  a  century,  in  the  low,  and  mean,  and  dependant  attitude,  in 
which  some  professed  ministers  of  the  gospel,  in  consistence  with 
their  faith,  must  present  him.     I  should  expect  them  to   sneer  at 
the  Nazarene,  more  than  did  Voltaire,  or  Hume,   or  Bolingbroke. 
And  I  do  not  believe,  that  under   such  a  ministry,  Christ  ,is  often 
embraced,  or  loved,  or  believed  in.     He   may  have  some  place  in 
their  creed,  and  may  become  a  topic   of  speculation,   and  contro- 
versy, but  in  their  religion,   and   in  their  hearts,  I  fear  they  learn 
to  do  without  him :  surely  he  is  not  formed  in  them  the  hope  of 
glory. 

3.  /  would  take  a  dying  hold  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity,  be- 
cause on  the  same  principles  by  which  the  faith  of  so  many  have  been 
unsettled  on  this  point,  every  truth  of  God's  word  can  be  cast  away. 
Only  suffer  the   enemy  to   have  the  ground,  and  hold  in  peace, 
which  he  would  take  to  drive  you  from  this  doctrine,  and  he  will 
leave  you  nothing  to  credit,  in  the  whole  of  divine  revelation.    He 
will  tear  you  from  the    very    horns    of   the    altar,  and  sacrifice 
you,  along  with  your  Redeemer,  on  the  threshold  of  the  sanctuary 
of  God. 

When  I  must  believe  nothing  that  is  above  my  reason,  and  that 


IN    HIS    GOSPEL.  '        295 

I  cannot  fully  comprehend,  I  may  not  believe  the  simplest  testimo- 
ny of  revelation.  When,  from  the  urgency  of  this  principle,  I  can 
know  nothing  definite  respecting  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  despair 
of  gaming  from  the  Book  of  God  any  definite  knowledge  on  any 
subject.  Not  the  being  of  a  God,  or  his  government  over  the 
world,  or  the  fact  of  a  future  judgment,  or  an  eternal  state  of  retri- 
bution, is  revealed  with-  any  more  definiteness,  than  the  underived 
Deity  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  could  reason  them  all  away,  and  every 
doctrine  and  precept  along  with  them,  by  the  same  sophistry,  by 
which  men  would  forbid  me  to  offer  my  prayers  to  the  risen  and 
exalted  Redeemer.  I  would  then  hold  to  the  doctrine,  because  if 
1  give  it  up,  I  must  give  all  up,  and  throw  my  whole  creed  afloat, 
and  myself  afloat,  to  be  drifted,  I  know  not  where,  and  shipwreck- 
ed, I  know  not  upon  what  inhospitable  shore,  where  await  me, 
death,  or  life,  I  know  not. 

4.  If  you  still  ask  me,  Why  my  zeal  in  defence  of  the  higher  na- 
ture of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  1  I  answer  yet  again,  "  If  it  be  pos- 
sible" and  "  the  very  elect"  should  be  cajoled  into  a  doubt  on  this  sub- 
ject, it  would  do  them  incalculable  injury. 

That  doubt  would  mar  their  creed,;  for  they  must  yield  other  doc- 
trines, when  their  Redeemer  has  become  a  creature.  That  atone- 
ment which  he  only  could  make  ;  that  ruin  of  our  nature,  which 
he  only  can  repair  ;  that  ever-enduring  hell  from  which  he  only 
can  rescue  us  ;  that  Sabbath  which  his  rising  made  ;  that  Comfort- 
er, which  he  kindly  sent  ;  and  that  plenary  inspiration  of'  the 
scriptures,  which  establishes  his  divinity ;  must  be  all  plucked 
from  their  creed,  and  it  would  stand  then,  like  a  pine,  lightning- 
smitten^  scorched  in  its  every  leaf,  and  rived  to  its  deepest  roots, 
to  be  the  haunt  of  the  owl,  and  the  curse  of  the  forest.  When 
you  shall  blast  my  creed  like  this,  you  may  have,  for  a  farthing, 
the  residue  of  my  poor  mutilated  Bible,  and  I  will'  sit  down  and 
weep  life  away,  over  this  benighted  world,  to  which  is  reserved  the 
blackness  of  darkness  for  ever. 

It  would  diminish  their  comforts  ;  for  the  same  truth  that  has 
sanctified  them,  has  made  them  happy  ;  and  not  truth  more  than 
the  high  character  of  their  Redeemer.  Take  away  this  founda- 
tion, and  what  will  the  righteous  do  1  Their  hopes  have  been 
high,  and  their  joy  elevated,  and  their  songs  heard  in  the  night, 
because  they  had,  or  thought  they  had,  a  mighty  Redeemer.  From 
this  fact,  they  calculated  to  live  out  the  assaults  of  temptation,  and 
conquer  their  lusts,  and  hold  on  by  some  pin  of  the  covenant,  till 
they  should  plant  their  feet  on  the  golden  pavement  of  the  New 


I 

296  CHRIST    MUST   HAVE    HIS    OWN -PLACE 

Jerusalem.  Tell  the  Church,  that  she  has  no  such  almighty  Re- 
deemer as  she  has  dreamed  of,  and  there  will  be  tears  in  all  her 
tabernacles,  and  I  fear  if  there  will  be  silence  through  half  the 
choir  of  heaven,  and  the  angels  of  God  be  afraid  any  longer  to 
worship  him. 

It  would  hurt  their  usefulness.  They  have  had  high  hopes,  be- 
cause they  had  a  mighty  Redeemer,  and  were  active  in  duty, 
because  they  had  elevated  hopes.  Sap  these  hopes,  and  you  sunder 
the  very  sinew  of  action.  Will  they  care  to  be  sanctified,  when 
they  shall  have  learned  that  their  Lord  was  peccable !  Will  they 
press  on,  to  see  him  as  he  is,  and  be  like  him,  when  they  shall 
doubt  whether  he  will  be  known  in  heaven  but  by  the  nail-prints  1 
will  they  care  to  invite  others  to  him,  when  he  is  robbed  of  all  the 
charms  that  attracted  them  in  the  days  of  their  espousals  1  Will 
they  pray  with  the  fervency  they  have  done,  thai  the  heathen  may 
be  given  him  for  his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  a  possession,  when  they  shall  know  that  he  is  to  rule  by 
delegation,  and  does  not  come  into  the  government  but  by  heir- 
ship  1  Will  they  spend  their  perishable  wealth  to  honor  him, 
when  they  shall  feel  assured,  that  he  has  no  incorruptible  treasures 
with  which  to  repay  them  1 

How  is  it  with  those  who  have  made  the  experiment,  and  have 
delivered  over  their  creed  to  be  blotted  and  interlined,  till  the 
Deity  of  their  master  is  gone,  and  every  other  truth  that  hung  on 
it.  Are  they  active  for  God  1  do  they  bless  the  heathen  with  the 
gospel  1  do  they  disseminate  the  Bible  1  do  they  press  the  con- 
sciences of  sinners,  in  their  daily  walk,  and  in  their  evening  visits, 
and  give  an  ungodly  world  no  rest,  till  they  love  their  eclipsed, 
and  darkened,  and  degraded  Redeemer  1 

Oh,  hide  then  this  error  from  God's  elect,  and  let  them  have  the 
Savior  they  are  disposed  to  serve,  till  he  take  them  up,  and  show 
himself  to  thenvin  all  the  glory  that  he  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  world  was. 

I  naturally  close  with  the  question,  "  What  think  ye  of  Christ  1" 
This  question,  faithfully  answered  by  the  minister  of  the  gospel, 
will  give  you  very  much  the  character  of  his  ministry ;  as  it  will 
define  the  Savior  he  proclaims,  and  of  course  the  success  he  has ; 
and  answered  by  the  private  Christian  will  give  the  character  of 
his  religion.  I  do  not  now  mean  to  say  that  orthodoxy  is  piety, 
but  simply,  that  the  heart  that  has  been  sanctified  through  the 
the  truth,  will  apprehend  and  love  the  truth.  In  other  words, 
faith  will  credit  the  Divine  testimony.  Does  the  Lord  Jesus  hold 


IN    HIS    GOSPEL.  297 

in  our  ministry,  and  our  creed,  the  high  place  that  God  has  given 
him  in  the  gospel  1  If  we  make  him  merely  a  teacher  and  a  pat- 
tern, so  was  Moses  and  Paul.  And  if  we  feel  that  we  need  no 
higher  Savior,  then  is  it  doubtful,  whether  we  have  discovered 
more  than  half  our  ruin.  If  we  have  sunk  no  lower  than  that  a 
iinite  arm  can  reach  us,  we  have  yet,  I  fear,  to  learn  that  we  are 
sinking  still,  and  that  the  pit  is  bottomless.  A  gospel  that  is  the 
contrivance  of  men,  will  suit  only  those  who  have  never  felt  the 
plague  of  their  own  hearts.  When  we  shall  have  felt  the  full 
pressure  of  the  curse  that  rests  upon  us,  we  shall  feel  the  need  of 
one  to  save,  strong  as  him  that  created  us.  The  horrors  of  our 
condition  will  scare  from  us  every  deliverer,  but  him  who  can 
quench  with  his  own  blood,  the  fires  that  have  been  kindled  to 
consume  us.  When  we  have  looked  once  upon  the  incensed 
throne,  we  shall  hail  one  as  our  high  priest,  who  can  go  in  and 
sprinkle  the  mercy  seat ;  who  can  neutralize  that  consuming  ire 
which  issues  from  the  countenance  of  a  provoked  Jehovah  ;  one 
who  has  that  influence  in  the  court  of  heaven,  that  he  can  procure 
our  acquittal,  and  can  place  himself  in  the  van  of  the  redeemed 
multitude,  and  conduct  us  up  to  heaven,  and  there  plead  his  own 
merits  as  the  ground  of  our  acceptance,  and  the  foundation  of  our 
everlasting  blessedness.  "  Amen,  even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus,  come 
quickly." 

38 


SERMON   XXV. 
THE  LAW  AND  THE  GOSPEL  CONJOINTLY  SUSTAINED. 

MATTHEW    V.    17. 

Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets:  [  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to 

fulfil. 

IT  is  then  only  that  the  gospel  appears  in  all  its  glory  j  when  it 
infringes  not  upon  the  sacred  rights  of  the  law.  One  of  God's 
institutions  must  not  eclipse  the  glory  of  another.  God  did  not 
make  provision  for  the  salvation  of  men,  because  he  had  become 
convinced  that  he  had  issued  a  bad  law,  and  would  thwart  its  de- 
sign. The  law  stood  in  his  eye  as  glorious,  after  men  had  drawn 
its  curse  upon  them,  as  when  it  dropt  fresh  from  his  lips,  amid  the 
smoke  of  Sinai.  When  he  instituted  the  law,  he  knew  that  men 
would  break  it ;  and  he  affixed  his  sanctions,  sure  that  all  our  race 
would  incur  them,  and  many  endure  them.  It  was  not  an  experi- 
ment, made  without  a  knowledge  of  the  result,  but  with  the  result 
provided  for. 

Hence  the  legal  and  the  gospel  dispensations,  are  but  different 
parts  of  the  same  benevolent  system  ;  by  which  a  good  Jehovah 
would  bind  to  himself,  and  when  the  bond  should  be  broken, 
would  recover  and  restore  to  his  love  and  favor,  beings  he  had 
eternally  designed  should  be  happy.  And  hence  our  Lord  thus 
early  announced  it  as  his  design,  not  to  abrogate,  but  to  establish 
the  law.  Fixed  and  stable  as  were  the  ordinances  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  firm  the  earth  he  had  come  to  plant  his  feet  upon,  these 
should  all  pass  away,  while  not  a  jot  or  tittle  of  the  law  should  fail. 

Accordingly,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  gathered  disciples,  and  freed 
them,  of  course,  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  he  still  subjected  them 
to  it,  as  a  rule  of  duty.  He  transferred,  from  the  Jewish  Church 
to  his  own  family,  the  very  commandments  which  Moses  wrote 
on  the  tables  of  stone.  Not  an  item  did  he  repeal,  not  a  precept 
alter,  not  a  sanction  soften.  And  the  whole  gospel  is  a  broad  and 
lucid  exposition  of  the  law.  Hence  it  is  now  as  much  the  fact  as 
ever,  that  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in  the  things 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law,  to  do  them."  I  shall  state,  in  a 


THE   LAW   AND    THE    GOSPEL    CONJOINTLY    SUSTAINED.  299 

few  words,  the  error  I  would  oppose,  and  which,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  is  in  direct  opposition  to  sound  reason,  and  the  whole  Bible  ; 
and  then  proceed  to  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the  text,  that  The 
gospel  was  not  intended  to  supplant,  but  does  sustain  the  law. 

I.  State  the  error.  The  scheme  is,  that  men  by  the  fall,  if  not 
disabled,  have  become  so  averse  to  the  law,  that  a  perfect  obedience 
is  impossible  ;  and  that  God  will  now  accept  of  an  obedience  that 
is  sincere.  If  men  will  obey  the  law,  as  well  as  they  are  able 
with  their  carnal  mind,  the  temper  which,  without  their  fault,  they 
inherited  from  their  first  parents,  God  will  accept  them  ;  and 
wherein  their  obedience  fails,  the  merits  of  Christ  will  be  substi- 
tuted. By  this  scheme,  the  death  of  Christ  removes  the  curse  of 
the  law,  from  all  men,  soon  as  it  lights  upon  them :  for  all  do  ren- 
der to  the  law,  the  best  obedience  they  are  disposed  to,  and  of 
course  are  safe,  if  they  should  live  and  die  without  repentance. 
It  must  be  seen  in  a  moment,  that,  if  to  whatever  extent  men  are 
unwilling  to  obey,  they  are  unable,  then  all  obedience, .  but  that 
which  is  rendered,  is  dispensed  with.  And  none  is  rendered  ;  for 
a  kind  of  sincerity,  consistent  witlj  the  most  confirmed  hatred  of 
God,  and  his  law,  and  which,  for  aught  I  see,  devils  may  have  as 
well  as  men,  becomes  a  substitute  for  right  affections,  and  has  all 
the  merit  of  a  perfect  obedience.  The  whole  amounts  to  this ; 
God  relinquishes  his  right  to  any  farther  obedience  than  men, 
totally  depraved,  are  disposed  to  pay  him.  In  this  scheme  an 
atonement  is  made  necessary,  in  order  to  finish  out  and  render 
accepted  the  obedience  of  the  sinner. 

This  scheme,  as  altered  to  accommodate  it  to  modern  taste, 
relinquishes  the  atonement,  and  substitutes  repentance.  At  what- 
ever time  in  this  life,  (and  why  not  in  the  life  to  come  1)  the  sin- 
ner shall  be  sorry  that  he  has  broken  the  law,  and  shall  practise 
some  reform,  God  will  promptly  forgive  him,  without  any  refer- 
ence at  all  to  the  scenes  of  Calvary.  He  has  in  his  heart  so  much 
compassion,  and  cares  so  little, — it  amounts  to  this, — whether  the 
law  is  respected  or  reprobated,  that  the  very  first  tear  of  the 
offender  washes  away  all  his  sins. 

These  schemes  are  substantially  the  same,  and  are  alike  sub- 
versive of  the  law  6f  God.  They  agree  in  casting  off  this  poor 
world  from  all  allegiance  to  its  Maker,  and  virtually  render  him  a 
God,  not  worthy  either  of  the  fear  of  devils,  or  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  angels. 

I   have  thus  stated  the  error,  and  have  meant  to  do  it  candidly, 


300  THE    LAW   AND    THE    GOSPEL 

which  seems  to  me  to  pour  its  contaminating  influence  through  all 
the  false  systems  of  theology  which  are  at  present  employed  to 
injure  the  Church  of  Christ,,  and  destroy  the  souls  of  men.  I 
proceed, 

IJ.  To  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the  text.  I  shall  arrange  my 
thoughts  under  six  general  remarks:  The  first  great  commandment 
of  the  law,  from  its  very  nature,  cannot  be  repealed  ,  Nor  can  the 
second ;  The  spirit  of  the  law  and  the  gospel  is  the  same  ;  The 
gospel  is  a  useless  device,  but  on  the  supposition  that  the  law  is 
good,  and  must  be  supported ;  The  gospel,  that  shall  set  aside  the 
law,  will  defeat  its  own  design ;  The  gospel  is  most  glorious  when 
the  law  is  fully  sustained. 

I.  The  first  great  commandment  of  the  law  cannot  be  repealed. 
"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart."  The  very 
nature  of  this  law  decides,  that  a  gospel  which  would  neutralize 
it,  would  be  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing.  The  Creator  must  require 
his  creatures  to  consider  him  the  object  of  their  supreme  regard  ; 
he  can  ask  no  less  of  devils.  This  precept  is  founded  on  the 
Divine  excellence,  and  must  abide  in  force  while  God  shall  con- 
tinue to  be  good.  And  as  God  is  unchangeably  good,  this  precept 
must  abide  for  ever.  He  would  sanction  injustice,  if  he  should 
repeal  a  law  which  requires  that  men  render  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's.  An  act  like  this  would  create  alarm  in  heaven, 
and  send  a  premonition  of  ruin  into  every  world  that  has  continued 
loyal. 

Moreover,  an  act  that  should  release  intelligent  creatures  from 
loving  supremely  their  Creator,  would  ruin  the  very  beings  thus 
released.  Hence  sang  the  Christian  Poet : 

"  From  thee  departing,  they  are  lost,  and  rove 
At  random,  without  honor,  hope,  or  peace." 

This  has  ever  been,  and  must  continue  to  be,  the  law  of  hell,  of 
earth,  of  heaven,  and  of  all  other  worlds.  Nothing  that  God  has 
made  has  sufficient  greatness  and  grandeur,  to  become  our  supreme 
object  of  regard 

"  Give  what  thou  canst,  without  thee  we  are  poor; 
And  with  thee  rich,  take  what  .thou  wilt  away." 

The  capacity  that  God  has  given  us,  must  be  gratified,  or  we  are 
miserable;  and  if  it  be  gratified,  God  is  loved  according  to  the 
commandment. 

Now  a  gospel  that  should  set  aside  a  law  like  this,  would  prove 


CONJOINTLY    SUSTAINED.  301 

a  miserable  expedient  for  a  revolted  world,  as  it  would  rob  God 
of  his  deserved  honors,  and  man  of  his  highest  happiness.  How 
impossible  that  God  should  have  given  us  such  a  gospel !  He 
never  has,  and  never  will,  unless  he  could  wish  to  see  us  all  mis- 
erable. To  be  restored,  from  inordinate  attachment  to  the  crea- 
ture, to  supreme  love  to  God,  is  salvation  itself  j  and  how  can  this 
be  effected  by  annulling  the  precept  that  enjoins  this  very  change  1 
And  we  assert, 

2.  That  the  second  great  commandment  of  the  law  cannot  be  repealed. 
"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  This,  like  the  other, 
carries  on  the  very  face  of  it  its  claim  to  perpetuity.  The  first 
commandment  was  intended  to  bind  the  creation  to  its  Maker,  the 
second  to  bind  creatures  to  each  other.  Neither  of  these  ligatures 
can  be  sundered,  and  creatures  be  happy.  To  love  our  fellow 
men,  is  to  make  them  subservient  to  our  enjoyment :  for  to  love  is 
usually  a  delightful  exercise.  If  God  had  commanded  us  to  hate 
our  neighbor,  he  had  subjected  us  to  the  necessity  of  disobeying 
him,  or  of  being  lastingly  unhappy.  In  proof  of  this  position,  I 
have  only  to  refer  you  to  facts.  Ask  the  man  of  passion,  who 
daily  goes  home  enraged  at  some  one  of  his  fellow  men,  there  to 
study  revenge,  whether  to  hate  makes  him  happy.  Or  let  my 
readers  call  to  mind  some  of  those  seasons,  when  they  were  en- 
listed in  some  obstinate  quarrel,  and  when  for  whole  days,  and 
perhaps  for  weeks,  passion  rested  in  their  bosom,  and  tell  me  if 
you  were  not  unhappy  1  Then,  in  commanding  men  to  love  one 
another,  God  has  simply  forbidden  them  to  be  unhappy — has  given 
them  leave  to  be  happy. 

And  the  measure  of  our  love,  as  here  given,  what  could  be  more 
equitable.  My  neighbor  is  a  sensitive  being  like  myself;  is  capa- 
ble of  equal  happiness ;  and  that  happiness  worth  as  much  to  him, 
as  mine  to  me.  Hence  God  must  value  his  blessedness,  as  much 
as  mine :  and  it  is  my  duty  to  feel  as  God  does.  Hence,  if  God 
should  repeal  this  law,  it  would  be  consenting  that  men  should  do 
wrong,  have  feelings  at  variance  with  his,  and  love  happiness 
simply  because  it  is  theirs. 

To  repeal  this  law  would  be  to  license  selfishness ;  the  very  pas- 
sion which  has  filled  this  unhappy  world,  and  kept  it  full  of  mise- 
ry. If  men  are  not  obligated  to  love  each  other  as  themselves,  then 
is  there  no  standard  by  which  their  affection  can  be  measured,  and 
they  are  at  liberty  to  hate  and  devour  one  another.  If  the  gospel 
has  set  aside  this  law,  then  all  the  outrages  which  men  have  com- 
mitted, one  upon  another,  have  been  licensed  depredations  :  for 


302  THE  LAW  AND  THE  GOSPEL 

God  has  disapproved  only  of  what  was  a  violation  of  his  law.  If 
he  has  anulled  the  precept  that  required  men  to  love,  he  has  virtu- 
ally given  them  liberty  to  hate,  and  has  sanctioned  a  total  disre- 
gard of  the  second  great  commandment  of  the  law.  But  nothing 
like  this  is  true.  The  law  stjll  makes  on  fallen  creatures  "a  de- 
mand as  large  as  upon  the  first  pair  in  their  innocence,  and  con- 
tinues to  press  its  obligations  after  they  are  lost.  The  miseries  of 
hell  would  be  mitigated,  if  this  law  could  cease  to  be  binding.  The 
lost  might  then  hate  and  torment  each  other,  without  increasing 
their  guilt. 

3.  The  spirit  of  the  law  and  the  gospel  is  the  same.  The  spirit  of 
the  law,  as  we  have  seen,  is  love  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  gos- 
pel. In  the  inventory  given  us  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  the  first 
named  is  love.  This  is  the  bond  of  union  in  heaven,  and  all  who 
are  verging  toward  heaven,  cultivate  love,  as  the  fundamental 
principle  of  their  piety.  When  we  read,  "  If  any  man  love  the 
world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him,"  we  have  in  other 
language,  the  whole  spirit  of  the  first  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt. 
have  no  other  gods  before  me."  And  when  we  read,  "  Whatso- 
ever ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  :" 
do  we  not  also  read,  "  For  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Here 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  identifies  the  two,  as  if  to  settle  the 
point  for  ever,  that  he  came  to  expound  and  enforce  the  very  pre- 
cepts of  the  law  of  Sinai.  And  the  man  must  be  grossly  ig- 
norant of  the  New  Testament,  who  does  not  recognize  it,  as  the 
very  law  of  the  ten  commandments,  broken  down  to  the  relation- 
ships, and  the  exigencies  of  human  life.  In  both  Testaments  we 
have  the  same  divine  character,  the  same  code  of  doctrines,  the 
same  Christian  graces,  the  same  social  duties,  and  the  same  pure 
and  holy  religion. 

When  the  gospel  offers  a  pardon,  to  those  who  have  violated  the 
law,  'care  is  taken  that  the  law  be  fulfilled  and  honored.  The  law 
is  not  censured,  nor  the  sinner  violently  wrested  from  its  curse.  A 
substitute  is  furnished,  on  which  the  curse  may  light ;  a  substitute 
who  had  himself  perfectly  obeyed  the  law,  who  loved  it,  held  it  in 
high  and  holy  respect,  and  died  because  he  would  not  see  it  dis- 
honored. Had  it  been  a  bad  law,  hastily  conceived,  and  impru- 
dently promulgated,  Christ  would  not  have  borne  its  curse.  If  too 
severe,  he  would  have  recalled  its  edicts,  and  would  have  mitigated 
its  sanctions,  if  cruel.  It  was  his  first  concern  to  secure  the 
honors  of  the  Godhead,  and  to  do  this  he  must  sustain  the  law  ; 
his  second  to  redeem  the  wretch  who  had  broken  it,  and  was  con- 
demned. 


CONJOINTLY  SUSTAINED.  303 

The  Savior  had  no  more  compassion  than  the  Father ;  loved 
justice,  truth,  and  holiness  no  less ;  hated  sin  as  much,  and  hated 
the  sinner  as  much,  and  was  as  unwilling  as  the  Father,  that  a  jot 
or  a  tittle  of  the  law  should  fail.  He  did  not  engross  in  himself 
all  the  benevolence  of  the  Godhead  j  and  was  not  a  partisan  with 
the  sinner  against  the  law.  He  did  not  come  to  make  war  with 
the  Law-giver^  but  with  sin  ;  not  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the 
condemned,  and  wrest  them  from  the  punishment  to  which  some 
ancient  and  cruel  decree  had  exposed  them ;  but  to  cover  them 
with  his  body  and  his  life,  from  the  miseries  they  deserved  to  en- 
dure. Thus  the  law  and  the  gospel  have  both  the  same  spirit,  and 
press  the  same  design  ;  to  honor  God,  and  make  his  creatures 
happy. 

4u  The  gospel  was  a  useless  device,  but  on  the  supposition  that  the 
law  is  good,  and  must  be  supported.  Nothing  can  be  more  absurd 
than  a  gospel  designed  to  free  men  from  the  curse  of  the  law, 
while  that  law  is  already  repealed,  and  has  ceased  to  be  binding. 
Hence  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  lest  men  should  make  a  mistake  on 
this  subject,  declared  very  early  in  his  ministry,  that  he  came  not 
to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it.  Indeed  the  very  hypothesis  on 
which  the  gospel  is  built,  is,  that  the  law  is  good,  its  precepts  right, 
and  its  penalties  binding.  If  otherwise,  the  law  should  have  been 
repealed  without  a  Savior.  As  soon  as  it  was  discovered  that  the 
law  was  not  adapted  to  our  circumstances,  was  too  strict  or  too 
severe,  instead  of  subjecting  Christ  to  the  pains  of  the  .cross,  to 
relieve  the  culprit,  he  should  have  been  pardoned  without  an  atone- 
ment. Probably  those  who  deny  an  atonement,  are  brought  to 
this  erroneous  result,  by  some  indefinite  conception,  that  the  law 
is  repealed,  to  provide  the  way  for  manV  recovery. 

Our  reason  tells  us  that  there  should  have  been  no  substitution, 
r'or  those  who  had  broken  a  bad  law,  or  a  law  which  for  any  rea- 
sons whatever  it  was  not  wise  to  sustain.  If  not  wise  to  execute 
it,  in  the  last  extremity,  upon  the  offender  himself,  then  assuredly, 
not  merely  unwise,  but  monstrous,  to  punish  the  substitute.  There 
should  have  been  proclaimed  immediately  a  free  and  full  pardon. 
There  was  the  greatest  possible  cruelty  in  the  transactions  of  the 
cross,  but  on  the  supposition  that  the  law  is  too  good  to  be  set 
aside,  even  if  the  population  of  a  world  must  perish  to  do  it  honor. 

5.  Ji  gospel  that  shall  set  aside  the  law  will  defeat  its  own  design. 
Tell  the  sinner,  in  the  same  message  in  which  you  offer  him  a 
Savior,  that  the  law  he  has  broken,  is  repealed  ;  or  has  come  into 
disrepute,  and  its  curse  less  to  be  feared  than  formerly,  and  he  will 


304?  THE    LAW   AND    THE    GOSPEL 

answer,  Then  I  have  no  need  of  a  Savior.  If  my  Sovereign  is 
convinced,  as  I  long  have  been,  that  the  law  is  too  rigid,  he  will 
not  punish  its  violations ;  if  its  penalties  are  unjust,  he  will  not  ex- 
ecute them.  I  reject  your  offered  Redeemer,  and  approach  boldly 
to  the  throne,  to  demand  my  acquittal.  It  is  mocking  me  to  talk 
of  an  atonement,  while  I  have  done  only  right,  in  opposing  a  cruel 
and  oppressive  legislation. 

Thus  the  advocates  of  a  gospel,  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  law 
soon  as  they  make  the  secret  known,  that  the  law  has  perished, 
furnish  the  sinner  a  motive  for  rejecting  the  gospel  they  offer. 
Thus  they  labor  in  vain  and  spend  their  strength  for  naught.  They 
may  urge  the  overtures  of  their  gospel,  till  they  have  become  gray  in 
the  service,  and  their  hearers  will  remain  unchanged  and  unreformed. 
The  only  consistent  course  is,  to  justify  wholly  the  law,  or  offer  no 
Redeemer.  We  must  make  man  the  diseased,  and  suffering,  and  dy- 
ing creature,  that  the  Book  of  God  describes  him  to  be,  or  we 
need  offer  him  no  physician;  must  make  him  blind,  or  offer  him 
no  eye-salve ;  make  him  guilty  and  condemned,  or  offer  him  no 
pardon  ;  make  him  polluted,  or  offer  him  no  cleansing  ;  make  him 
an  exile,  a  captive,  and  a  slave,  or  offer  him  no  redemption.  The 
estimation  in  which  we  hold  the  law,  will  decide,  whether  we  have 
any  success  in  offering  sinners  the  gospel. 

6.  The  gospel  is  most  glorious  when  the  law  is  fully  sustained.  The 
glory  and  the  grace  of  the  gospel,  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  be  exactly  commensurate,  to  the  claims  and  the  curses  of  the 
law.-  The  one  must  contain  a  wo  as  broad  as  the  blessedness  im- 
plied in  the  other ;  must  present  a  ruin  as  wide  and  desperate,  as 
the  cure  presented  in  the  other ;  must  frown  as  implacably,  as  the 
other  smiles  complacently.  When  we  can  thus  honor  the  law,  and 
justify  the  Law-giver,  and  defend,  without  misgiving,  the  most 
punctilious  execution  of  every  threatening  that  has  issued  from  the 
lips  of  the  Eternal ;  then  it  is  that  we  can  equally  elevate  the  glo- 
rious gospel'of  the  blessed  God  :  which  else  becomes  as  worthless 
as  the  Shaster  or  the  Koran.  The  deeper  and  the  darker  the  pit 
into  which  I  had  sunk,  the  mightier  that  arm  that  could  lift  me  out. 
The  full  glories  of  Calvary,  have  never  been  seen,  but  by  the  same 
eye,  that  has  descried  ineffable  beauty  in  the  divine  legislation. 
The  gospel  will  be  shorn  of  its  last  beam,  when  it  shall  be  made  to 
eclipse  the  splendor  of  the  law.  It  is  only  the  dead  in  sin  that 
need  the  offer  of  life,  the  condemned  that  need  a  pardon.  Christ 
is  the  Repairer  of  the  breach ;  make  the  breach  wide,  and  you 
make  the  Repairer  illustrious.  Carry  not  the  fertilizing  influence 


CONJOINTLY    SUSTAINED.  305 

of  the  gospel,  but  into  the  very  territory ;  where  the  curse  of  a 
good  law  violated  has  spread  a  boundless  desolation.  There  its 
healing  waters  will  be  welcome,  an  Eden  will  blossom  under  your 
feet,  and  the  harvest  of  many  years,  repay  your  toil  and  make  glad* 
your  heart.  May  the  blessed  God  put  honor  upon  his  own  insti- 
tutions. 

In  bringing  my  remarks  to  a  close,  let  me  say,  that  the  law  can- 
not go  into  disuse.  It  expresses  exactly  the  mind  of  God,  and 
must  be  the  rule  of  duty  to  his  obedient  subjects  for  ever.  And 
when  broken,  as  it  has  been  in  this  unhappy  world,  its  curse  must 
fall,  and  remain  upon  the  head  of  the  transgressor,  till  he  flies  for 
refuge  to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  him  in  the  gospel.  Till 
then  he  lies  condemned,  just  as  if  a  Savior  had  not  died  ;  with  this 
difference,  that  his  condemnation  if  he  perish  will  be  aggravated 
by  his  having  been  offered  redemption.  He  might  have  had  life 
but  would  not,  unless  on  such  condition,  that  his  transgressions 
might  be  justified.  I  close  with 

REMARKS. 

1.  How  tremendous  the  ruin  of  sinners,  who  after  all  this,  shall 
fall  under  the  condemning  sentence  of  the  divine  law.  God  we 
see  will  not  set  his  law  aside.  He  would  give  his  own  well-belov- 
ed Son,  to  expire  on  the  ragged  nails,  to  save  those  who  had  brok- 
en the  law,  and  incurred  its  penalty,  rather  than  give  his  foes  oc- 
casion to  say,  that  he  had  repealed  it.  "If  these  things  were 
done  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  1"  If  God 
appeared  so  inflexibly  holy,  on  Calvary,  where  he  drew  his  sword 
upon  the  sinner's  substitute,  how  terrible  the  indignation  that  he 
will  display  in  hell.  0,  is  there  a  man,  so  hardened  and  so  daring, 
that  he  would  venture  to  pass  through  life,  and  go  on  to  the  judg- 
ment, with  the  curse  of  the  violated  law  resting  on  him !  When 
he  shall  see  that  Redeemer,  who  saved  others,  but  in  whose  blood 
he  would  not  take  sanctuary,  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with 
power  and  great  glory,  will  he  not  regret,  that  he  had  not  been  in- 
terested in  his  atonement  1  And  when  his  destiny  shall  issue  from 
that  Savior's  lips,  and  he  goes  to  make  his  bed  in  hell,  will  he  not 
learn,  what  now  he  is  so  unwilling  to  know,  that  "  The  law  is  holy, 
and  the  commandment  holy,  and  just,  and  goodl" 

The  torments  of  the  lost,  will  be  an  abiding  testimony  of  God's 

regard  to  his  law.     And  those  who  shall  have  escaped  to  heaven, 

when  they  shall   "  look  upon  the  carcases  of  the  men  that  have 

transgressed,"  will  be  feeling   more  and  more  strongly  for  ever, 

39 

' 


306  THE  LAW  AND  THE  GOSPEL 

how  great  are  their  obligations  to  the  Savior,  for  redeeming  them 
from  the  curse  of  a  law,  so  fearfully  holy.  And  who,  that  places 
any  value  upon  his  soul,  and  believes  that  God  will  thus  jealously 
guard  the  honor  of  his  law,  and  has  not  already  made  him  incorri- 
gibly angry,  will  delay  an  hour  in  securing  an  interest  in  that 
Savior,  who  bore  the  curse  for  us.  O,  my  friend,  haste  your  es- 
cape, as  you  would  at  midnight  from  your  burning  house,  as  you 
would  from  the  jaws  of  a  ravening  lion,  as  you  would  from  the  ter- 
rors of  a  volcanic  eruption,  as  you  would  from  the  fire  that  can 
never  b'e  quenched,  and  the  worm  that  shall  not  die. 

2.  The  subject  will,  I  hope,  prepare  us  to  contemplate  with  hor- 
ror, the  condition  of  those  congregations,  who  have  selected  for 
themselves  a  ministry,  that  builds  its  instructions  on  the  ruins  of 
the  divine  law.  Would  to  God  that  I  were  mistaken,  in  supposing 
such  a  case  to  exist.  But  when  I  hear,  from  lips  that  profess  to 
have  been  touched  with  a  coal  from  off  the  altar,  that  man  is  quite 
an  upright  being,  has  committed  a  few  errors  only,  and  these  all 
venial,  not  sufficient  to  condemn  him  ;  that  he  needs  no  atonement, 
nor  Savior  but  to  teach  him,  and  be  his  pattern,  and  this  Savior 
not  divine  : — When  I  hear  of  sentiments  like  these  from  the  pulpit, 
I  fear  there  is  a  controversy  with  the  law  of  God,  and  that  it  is 
meant  to  be  understood,  that  he  has  relinquished  his  demand  upon 
the  sinner,  of  a  stricter  obedience,  than  he  is  disposed  to  yield. 

Thus  by  putting  aside  the  law,  as  we  suppose  is  done  in  the  out- 
set, and  hewing  down  the  whole  system  to  accommodate  it  to  this 
fatal  error,  the  whole,  though  somewhat  consistent  with  itself,  is 
rotten  and  deceptive.  Thus  the  sinner  is  lulled,  and  soothed,  and 
when  asleep,  is  kept  slumbering  till  he  is  lost.  He  never  has  any 
proper  sense  of  his  sins,  nor  respect  for  the  violated  law,  nor  re- 
gard for  the  holiness,  and  justice,  and  truth  of  God.  He  never  be- 
comes humble,  nor  fears  God,  nor  embraces  the  Savior,  nor  quits 
his  sins.  The  gospel  he  hears  is  like  the  Siren's  song,  that  lures 
but  to  destroy.  It  keeps  men  stupid  till  it  is  too  late  to  be  anxious 
to  any  profit. 

O,  ye  lost  and  ruined  congregations  !  if  my  voice  might  reach 
you,  I  would  tell  you  to  look  well  to  the  ministry  you  attend. 
While  it  pretends  to  offer  you  life,  it  may  destroy  you.  If  you 
find  it  aiming  to  lessen  the  number,  and  diminish  the  aggravations 
of  your  sins,  you  ought  to  suspect  it.  You  never  will  betake  your- 
self to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  your  precious  and  only  Savior,  till 
the  commandment  come  home  to  your  bosom,  high  and  imperious 
in  its  claims ;  holy,  and  just,  and  good,  in  all  it  requires,  and  in  all 


' 


CONJOINTLY    SUSTAINED.  307 

it  threatens.  In  the  sense  of  the  apostle,  sin  must  revive  and  we 
die,  else  there  can  be  no  hope  that  we  shall  be  made  alive  in 
Christ  Jesus.  The  multitudes  who  have  gone  to  heaven,  and  the 
whole  army  of  believers  who  are  bound  thither,  know  the  period 
when  they  felt  themselves  justly  exposed  to  eternal  death.  The 
gospel  that  pretends  to  find  you  quite  whole  and  happy,  needing 
only  a  little  instruction,  and  perhaps  some  reformation,  and  aims 
not  to  alarm  and  distress  you,  you  may  rest  assured  is  a  lie,  and 
not  the  truth ;  it  comes  from  hell,  and  not  from  heaven ;  and  if  em- 
braced, will  conduct  you  back  with  it  to  the  recesses  of  perdition. 


SERMON   XXVI. 

IMPENITENT  MEN  DESTITUTE  OF  HOLINESS. 

ROMANS    III.    18. 

There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyee. 

THE  text  gives  us  man's  native  character.  Stfch  he  is  till  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  sanctified  him.  The  criticism  {hat  would  apply 
this  whole  passage  to  the  people  only  who  lived  before  the  flood, 
or  to  a  very  few  of  the  baser  sort  of  sinners,  is  a  contrivance  of 
infidelity,  and  is  extensively  employed,  in  the  present  day,  to  be- 
tray and  ruin  souls.  The  man  who  is  willing  to  shape  his  creed 
by  the  Divine  record,  is  entirely  satisfied,  when  he  reads  the  pas- 
sages in  the  Old  Testament  which  are  here  quoted  ;  but  when  he 
finds  them  referred  to  by  an  inspired  apostle,  and  by  him  applied 
to  the  whole  human  family,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  no  shadow  of  doubt 
remains.  He  is  now  content  to  lie  down  under  the  humiliating 
charge  they  bring,  and  is  ashamed  and  confounded  before  the 
great  Searcher  of  hearts.  He  who  has  become  a  new  creature 
will  consent  that  "  God  be  true,  though  every  man  a  liar." 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  a  gracious  affection,  belonging  not  to 
the  slave  but  to  the  son,  and  is  the  genuine  fruit  of  a  new  heart, 
the  beginning  of  wisdom.  Hence  where  this  affection  is  not,  there 
are  no  gracious  affections.  And  if  this  be  true,  and  the  text  ap- 
plies to  all  men  in  their  unsanctified  state,  then  it  plainly  teaches 
us,  that  in  unregenerate  men  there  is  no  moral  excellence. 

My  object  at  this  time  will  be,  not  so  much  to  prove  the  doc- 
trine, as  to  account  for  its  having  been  controverted,  and  offer 
some  reasons  for  esteeming  it  a  highly  important  doctrine. 

I.  Many  have  mistaken  the  native  character  of  man,  from  having 
seen  him  capable  of  affections  and  deeds  that  are  praiseworthy.  It  is 
not  man's  prerogative  to  judge  the  heart ;  hence,  if  the  tendency 
of  an  action  is  to  that  which  is  good,  it  is  imputed  to  the  very 
motive  that  ought  to  have  produced  it.  If  the  deed  has  a  fair  ex- 
terior, it  is  considered  ungenerous  not  to  impute  it  to  correct  prin- 
ciple. Men  judge,  however,  on  the  maxim,  that  what  is  highly 


IMPENITENT   MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS.  309 

esteemed  among  men,  cannot  be  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Hence  they  dress  up  human  nature  in  garbs  of  innocence ;  and 
conceive  it  impossible  that  there  should  be,  under  so  much  that  is 
fair  and  good  in  conduct,  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief. 

They  find  men  capable  of  kind,  and  •  generous,  and  honorable 
sentiments.  They  can  be  true,  and  trusty,  and  faithful,  and  affec- 
tionate ;  and  they  triumphantly  ask,  How  can  all  this  be,  when 
there  is  no  love  of  God  in  the  heart !  They  see  discharged,  and 
sometimes  quite  honorably,  the  offices  of  parent,  husband,  brother 
and  child,  and  all  the  other  domestic  and  social  relations,  and 
impute  it  all,  though  to  be  accounted  for  on  other  principles,  to 
native  moral  excellence.  Hence  they  are  precipitated  into  a  con- 
troversy with  that  plain  and  humbling  testimony  of  heaven,  that 
"  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  is  not  subject  to  his 
law,  nor  indeed  can  be." 

Why  will  not  men  believe,  what  the  scriptures  so  plainly  teach, 
that  the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked  ; 
and  from  this  truth  infer,  that  very  different  motives  may  lead  to 
the  same  deeds  1  We  often  see  that  an  amiable  disposition,  a 
tameness  and  mildness,  such  as  distinguish  the  lamb  from  the 
wolf,  and  the  vulture  from  the  dove — and  that  results  in  the  exer- 
cise of  many  an  amiable  affection,  and  the  doing  of  many  a  kind 
action — may  consist  witli  the  practice  of  sin,  the  habit  of  a  daily 
violation  of  the  divine  law,  a  prompt  rejection  of  all  the  overtures 
of  the  gospel,  and  an  inveterate  disgust  for  the  duties  of  a  cordial 
and  secret  piety.  We  have  recognized,  where  there  was  all  the 
instinctive  amiableness  that  is  ever  claimed,  the  existence  of  a 
polished  and  fashionable  infidelity ;  have  marked  offence  taken,  at 
the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  revelation,  at  the  scruples  of  a  well 
disciplined  conscience,  at  the  frequency  and  fervency  of  devotional 
exercises,  and  the  elevated  views  and  affections  of  the  revived  and 
happy  believers.  Still  there  were  high  pretensions  to  kindness, 
rectitude,  generosity,  and  even  piety.  There  was  not  a  conscious- 
ness of  the  deep-rooted  enmity  of  the  heart  to  whatever  is  holy 
and  heavenly.  Men  have  wept  under  the  sound  of  the  gospel,  and 
seemed  the  veriest  converts  to  the  truths  under  discussion,  the 
affections  enforced,  and  the  duties  urged,  and  ere  they  have  passed 
the  threshold  of  the  sanctuary,  have  vented  their  spleen  against 
the  man,  who  reached  their  sensibilities,  and  drew  from  them,  in 
an  unguarded  hour,  their  reluctant  testimony  to  the  gospel  he 
announced. 

We  do  not  deny,  that  there  has  been  seen  in  men  not  sanctified, 


310  IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS. 

much  that  it  would  be  disgraceful  not  to  admire,  and  envious  not 
to  praise,  and  evil  not  to  imitate ;  and  still  we  may  have  had  in- 
dubitable evidence,  that  in  the  very  same  bosom-  there  beat  a 
heart  hostile  to  God,  and  holiness,  and  heaven.  Not  certainly 
will  God,  who  compares  the  temper  of  the  heart  with  his  law, 
approve  always  the  very  deeds  that  men  have  praised,  or  the  men 
who  may  have  stood  immeasurably  high  in  human  estimation. 

On  this  point  the  truth  must  not  be  concealed.  We  cannot  say 
to  sinners,  that  if  they  please  man,  God  will  assuredly  be  pleased  j 
that  if  they  speak  kindly  to  man,  and  do  deeds  of  mercy  to  him, 
the  Eternal  will  say,  "  Ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  There  is  no 
such  assurance  given  in  the  record.  And  the  time,  or  rather  the 
eternity,  will  be  here  so  soon,  when  their  whole  character  must  be 
known,  when  they  must  stand  before  the  omniscient  God,  and  all 
their  heart  be  opened,  and  their  whole  life  be  read  ;  that  to  deceive 
them,  and  cry  peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace,  would  be  as 
cruel  as  death. 

There  is  neither  the  necessity  nor  the  wish  to  deny,  that  unsanc- 
tified  men  have  exhibited  many  natural  excellences  of  character. 
On  this  point  I  know  not  that  there  will  be  at  last  any  controversy 
between  God  and  them.  Our  Savior  looked  at  the  young  man  in 
the  gospel,  and  loved  him,  while  yet  he  was  unquestionably  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness  and  under  the  bonds  of  iniquity.  We  yield  to 
men  traits  of  character  that  are  amiable,  and  useful,  and  endearing, 
and  wish  most  sincerely  that  there  need  be  no  reserve  in  our 
praise.  But  while  they  have  been  kind,  and  neighborly,  and  piti- 
ful, and  even  generous  to  their  fellows,  they  have  robbed  God. 
They  have  wept  at  the  tale  of  distress,  and  hastened  to  succor  the 
perishing,  and  bled  in  sympathy  over  the  diseased  and  the  dying, 
but  have  never  shed  a  tear  at  the  cross.  They  have  believed  man, 
and  confided  in  him,  and  spoken  truth  to  him,  and  have  well 
earned  his  confidence  and  affection,  but  they  have  practically  made 
God  a  liar.  They  have  never  fully  credited  either  his  threaten- 
ings  or  his  promises,  nor  thought  it  necessary  to  take  sanctuary 
in  his  Son.  There  has  not  been  a  moment  in  their  whole  life, 
take  the  time  when  their  conscience  was  the  most  tender,  and 
their  sensibilities  the  most  awakened,  and  their  deportment  the 
most  religious,  and  their  hopes  of  heaven  the  most  profound ; 
when  some  other  object  beside  God,  had  not  the  high  and  distinct 
ascendency  in  their  affections.  While  they  could  treat  men 
mildly,  and  be  rebuked  without  wrath,  and  even  endure  Divine 
judgments  without  the  appearance  of  rebellion ;  they  could  still 


IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS,  311 

brow-beat  all  the  anathemas  of  the  law,  and  parry  every  thrust  of 
the  gospel,  and  live  on,  without  reflection,  and  without  prayer, 
and  without  repentance,  and  without  God  in  the  world.  They 
still  cared  not  for  all  the  melting  entreaties  of  divine  mercy.  God 
was  not  in  all  their  thoughts,  nor  his  religion  in  their  lips,  nor  his 
throne  in  their  hearts,  nor  his  will  controlled  them ;  while,  as  the 
friends  of  the  poor,  the  patrons  of  moral  virtue,  and  the  benefac- 
tors of  the  world,  they  were  illustrious,  and  were  promised  in 
human  eulogy  a  luminous  and  happy  immortality. 

Thus  has  the  human  character,  all  deformity  as  God  views  it, 
been  exhibited  as  sound  and^good.  Distinctions  have  not  always 
been  made,  between  what  is  nature,  and  what  is  grace;  what  is 
mere  instinct,  and  what  is  holiness.  The  multitudes  of  the  ungodly 
have  been  blessed  and  dismissed,  doubting  whether  their  charac- 
ter was  at  all  deficient,  or  they  needed  to  be  born  again ;  and  high 
in  the  hope  that  a  slight  reform,  and  a  little  care,  would  soon  pre- 
pare them  to  stand  accepted  of  God.  Even  men  who  have  worn 
noted  marks  of  the  apostacy,  the  covetous,  the  proud,  the  vain,  and 
the  worldly,  have  retired  with  a  smile,  to  enjoy  their  good  opinion 
of  themselves  and  feed  quietly,  and  sleep  sweetly,  while  the  wrath 
of  God  abode  upon  them.  They  have  gone  to  their  farms  and 
their  merchandize,  to  love  and  pursue  supremely  the  cares  of  the 
life  that  now  is,  or  bury  themselves  in  scenes  of  dissipation  and 
folly,  not  suspecting  but  that  all  was  well,  and  all  safe,  till  either 
the  Spirit  of  God  awakened  them,  or  they  sunk  to  a  hopeless  per- 
dition :  or  they  live  still,  and  are  filling  up  the  measure  of  their 
iniquity,  and  are  preparing  for  a  deeper  despair,  than  if  they  had 
perished  far  sooner.  And  they  must  thus  perish,  it  seems,  because 
they  are  amiable,  while  publicans  and  harlots,  who  have  no  such 
virtues  to  screen  them  from  conviction,  believe  in  the  Savior,  and 
live  for  ever ! 

II.  Men  have  been  led  to  controvert  thi*  doctrine  because  they 
are  not  conscious  of  the  wrong  motives  by  which  they  are  actuated. 
Through  the  workings  of  a  deceitful  heart,  ignorance  of  the  scrip- 
tures, and  sometimes  by  the  aid  of  a  heterodox  ministry,  men 
have  totally  mistaken  their  whole  moral  character.  They  are  rich 
and  increased  in  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing  ;  and  know  not 
that  they  are  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and 
naked.  What  the  prophet  says  of  the  idol-maker,  is  more  or  less 
true  of  all  unregenerate  men  in  all  ages,  "  A  deceived  heart  hath 
turned  him  aside,  that  he  cannot  deliver  his  soul,  nor  say,  Is  there 


312  IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS. 

not  a  lie  in  my  right  hand  ?."  Hazael  could  not  believe  that  he  de- 
served the  character  which  the  prophet  gave  him,  "  Is  thy  servant 
a  dog  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing  1"  And  Jehu,  when  he 
cut  off  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  destroyed  the  worshippers  of  Baal, 
would  have  felt  himself  abused,  to  be  told  that  he  was  actuated  by 
the  love  of  praise.  When  the  rulers  of  the  Jews  were  charged 
with  murdering  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory,  though  they  had  done 
this  very  deed,  thought  Peter  a  slanderer,  in  his  attempt  to  bring 
this  blood  upon  them.  So  Saul  of  Tarsus  supposed  he  was  doing 
God  service,  while  persecuting  to  death  the  disciples  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  Thus  may  men  act  from  the  very  worst  of  motives,  and 
yet  suppose  them  the  very  best.  They  do  not  consider  it  impor- 
tant to  know  what  their  designs  are,  and  have  not  that  familiarity 
with  their  hearts  that  would  render  it  easy  to  discover.  And  thus 
they  are  led  to  controvert  the  truth,  and  quarrel  with  God,  his 
word,  and  his  ministers,  who  all  give  them  the  very  character  they 
have. 

III.  The  doctrine  of  the  text  is  often  converted  to  support  schemes 
with  which  this  sentiment  would  not  compare.  The  sinner's  entire 
depravity,  is  a  fundamental  doctrine,  on  which  there  can  be  built 
only  one,  and  that  the  gospel  system.  Make  this  doctrine  true,  and 
it  sweeps  away,  as  with  the  besom  of  destruction,  every  creed  but 
one  from  the  face  of  the  world.  It  settles  the  question,  that  God 
may  righteously  execute  his  law  upon  all  unregenerate  men  ;  that 
"by  the  deeds  of  the  law  there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified;"  that 
the  doings  of  unregenerate  men  are  unholy ;  that  even  repentance 
will  not  take  away  the  curse  that  has  lit,  and  must  rest,  upon  the 
man  who  has  not  continued  in  all  the  things  written  in  the  book  of 
the  law  to  do  them  ;  that  an  atonement,  such  as  God  has  provided, 
through  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all,  is  the 
only  medium  through  which  we  can  purge  our  consciences  from 
dead  works  to  serve  \he  living  God.  It  farther  decides  the  ques- 
tion, that  men  will  not  seek  after  God  ;  that  he  must  be  found  of 
them  that  sought  him  not,  must  give  repentance  unto  life,  must 
take  away  the  hearj;  of  stone  and  give  a  heart  of  flesh  ;  that  in  the 
regenerate  he  must  work,  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure  ; 
and  finally,  that  he  must  be  an  Almighty  Savior,  who  could  redeem 
beings  so  lost,  and  put  them  back  again  into  the  favor  of  a  justly 
offended  God. 

Thus  it  is  only  one  scheme  of  truths  that  this  doctrine  will  sup- 
port ;  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  If  men  depart  from 


IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS.  313 

the  truth,  as  we  are  told  they  shall  in  these  last  days,  giving  heed 
to  seducing  spirits  and  doctrines  of  devils,  they  must  thus  come 
into  close  arid  comfortless  contact  with  a  doctrine,  which,  if  true, 
gives  the  lie  to  all  their  false  and  delusive  schemes.  Hence  we 
wonder  not  that  "  the  foe  of  God  and  man,  issuing  from  his  dark 
den,"  has  here  displayed,  in  every  age  of  Zion's  conflict,  his  migh- 
tiest chieftainship.  Here  must  be  the  edge  of  battle,  in  every 
conflict  between  the  gospel  and  the  systems  invented  by  men ; 
between  the  friends  and  the  foes  of  truth.  This  is  the  fortress 
that  has  been  taken  and  retaken  ten  thousand  times,  where  has 
been  tried  the  prowess  of  God's  people,  and  his  enemies  j  where 
has  been  displayed  the  power  of  God,  and  been  put  to  the  test  the 
endurance  of  his  elect,  in  all  the  ages  that  have  gone  by. 

IV.  This  doctrine  has  been  controverted  through  the  pride,  of  the 
human  heart.  Depravity  is  a  most  degrading  doctrine,  and  entire  de- 
pravity intolerable,  till  the  heart  has  been  humbled  by  the  grace 
of  God.  There  is  in  apostate  men  great  pride  of  character.  We 
would  all  be  considered  friendly  to  what  is  good  and  great,  and 
such  is  God,  even  in  the  profession  of  the  most  depraved ;  such  is 
his  law,  and  such  his  government.  With  the  promptness  with 
which  we  fly  the  touch  of  fire,  does  pride  resist  imputation.  Hence 
inquires  the  unregenerate  man,  Would  you  deny  me  the  credit  of 
loving  my  Creator,  Preserver,  and  Benefactor  1  Do  I  never  obey 
his  law,  or  do  a  deed  from  motives  that  please  him  1  And  is  there, 
among  my  noblest  actions  of  kindness  to  men,  nothing  that 
amounts  to  love  !  In  my  gladness  for  the  good  things  that  God 
bestows,  is  there  not  a  shred  of  gratitude  1  in  my  admiration  of 
his  perfections  and  his  works,  no  love  1  in  my  belief  of  his  word, 
no  faith  1  in  my  expectation  of  heaven,  no  hope  1  in  my  sorrow 
for  sin,  no  repentance  1  in  my  endurance  of  adverse  events,  no 
submission  1  and  in  my  gentleness  and  condescension,  no  humili- 
ty 1.  are  my  prayers  sin  and  my  sacrifices  abomination  1  do  I 
thus,  on  all  occasions,  break  the  first  and  great  commandment  of 
the  law  1  and  on  all  occasions  the  second  also  1  in  all  my  noble 
generosity,  is  there  no  benevolence  1  in  my  soft  deportment,  no 
meekness  1  and  in  my. tears  for  the  miserable,  no  pious  sympathy  1 
must  every  deed  I  do  have  the  same  moral  deformity  1  and  God 
hate  me,  and  his  law  condemn  me,  when  I  follow  the  kindest  dic- 
tates of  that  nature  he  has  given  me  1 

Thus  men  feel,  that  if  this  doctrine  be  true,  it  goes  to  defame 
and  ruin  their  character.     It  makes  them  go  astray  soon  as  they 
40 


314  IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS. 

are  born,  speaking  lies.  It  makes  their  righteousness  as  filthy 
rags.  When  they  have  washed  themselves  in  snow-water,  and 
made  their  hands  never  so  clean,  this  doctrine,  with  ruthless  hand, 
plunges  them  into  the  ditch,  and  their  own  clothes  abhor  them. 
When  they  industriously  provide  for  their  household,  they  are  ac- 
cused of  loving  the  world,  while  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not 
in  them.  When  they  would  go  to  the  sanctuary,  and  pay  their 
vows,  there  they  hear  from  heaven,  "  What  hast  thou  to  do  to  de- 
clare my  statutes,  or  that  thou  shouldest  take  my  covenant  in  thy 
mouth  !" 

Thus,  at  every  point,  this  doctrine  comes  to  mar  their  reputa- 
tion, and  make  them  hypocrites,  and  cover  them  with  shame  and 
blushing.  Hence  the  Jehovah,  who  will  give  men  this  character, 
may  reign  in  other  hearts ;  and  the  Bible,  that  will  teach  this  doc- 
trine, may  lie  neglected ;  and  the  ministry  that  will  publish  it,  may 
starve :  and  the  cringing  multitude,  who  will  believe  it,  may  herd 
together,  and  together  sink  into  the  contempt  they  covet.  Thus 
God  is  treated,  and  thus  his  word,  and  thus  his  ministers,  and  thus 
his  people,  because  they  maintain  a  doctrine,  the  sinner's  disgust 
at  which,  establishes  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  or  the  dan- 
ger of  mistake.  It  so  degrades  the  character  of  men,  that  they 
will  not  believe  it, 'if  they  perish  contradicting  it. 

I  could  offer  other  reasons,  why  this  doctrine  has  been  so  fre- 
quently assailed,  but  shall  proceed  to  offer  some  reasons  for  esteem- 
ing it  a  very  important  doctrine. 

1.  The  fact,  that  it  is  plainly  revealed,  testifies  to  its  importance. 
God  would  not  have  cumbered  his  word  with  a  doctrine  of  no  va- 
lue. If  we  find  it  there  who  will  venture  to  deny  its  importance  I 
and  if  not  there,  how  does  it  happen,  that  those  are  its  warmest  ad- 
vocates, who  are  most  familiar  with  the  Bible,  and  most  ready  to 
regard  its  dictates  1  The  context  contains  a  very  dark  review  of 
man's  native  character :  and  it  would  be  infidelity  to  suppose  it  too 
highly  colored.  "  There  is  none  righteous,  no  not  one :  There  is 
none  that  understandeth,  there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God. 
They  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  together  become  un- 
profitable ;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one.  Their 
throat  is  an  open  sepulchre ;  with  their  tongues  they  have  used 
deceit ;  the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips :  Whose  mouth  is 
full  of  cursing  and  bitterness.  Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood. 
Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways :  And  the  way  of  peace 
nave  they  not  known.  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes." 
Now  we  fearlessly  assert,  that  this  is  given  as  the  native  character 


IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS.  315 

of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  by  one  whom  the  Holy  Ghost  inspired,  and 
who  could  not  mistake  the  truth.  Believe  the  last  clause  only, 
and  tell  me  if  in  men,  who  have  "  no  fear  of  God  before  their 
eyes,"  there  is  any  holiness  1  "  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against 
God,  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can 
be."  Here  again  Christian  honesty  will  read  the  same  doctrine. 
And  the  same  in  this  text,  "  The  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  full 
of  evil."  And  in  this,  "  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things, 
and  desperately  wicked."  And  that  none  may  escape,  it  reads ; 
"  As  in  water  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man :" 
And  thus  the  uniform  testimony  of  Scripture.  There  would  be  no 
end  in  quoting  the  Scriptures  on  this  important  point,  till  I  had  re- 
ferred you  to  almost  the  whole  Bible.  And  a  doctrine  about  which 
God  will  say  so  much,  must  be,  in  his  estimation,  and  should  be  in 
ours,  of  high  importance. 

2.  The  doctrine  of  the  text  is  esteemed  important,  as  it  is  one  of 
the  first  truths,  used  by  the  Spirit  of  GOG?,  in  awakening  and  sanctify- 
ing sinners.  Till  men  see  their  depravity,  they  will  not  approve 
of  the  law  that  condemns  them.  They  will  be  wondering,  if,  in- 
deed, they  think  at  all,  why  God  threatens  them,  and  be  blaming 
the  law  as  too  rigid  in  its  requirements,  and  cruel  in  its  penalties. 
Now  there  is  no  hope  of  a  sinner,  while  he  stands  in  this  posture  ; 
and  nothing  will  move  him  from  it,  but  a  conviction  of  his  lost  and 
ruined  state.  Hide  from  him  the  character  of  his  heart,  and  you 
seal  him  up  to  everlasting  stupidity.  You  can  arouse  him  to  no 
apprehensions  of  danger,  for  under  the  government  of  a  good  God 
none  are  in  danger  but  sinners.  And  there  will  of  course  be  no  re- 
pentance. A  thoughtless  sinner  sees  nothing  to  repent  of,  nor  any 
reason  why  he  should  repent,  and  the  man  who  knows  nothing  of 
his  heart  will  not  be  thoughtful.  The  commandment  never  comes 
home  to  his  conscience.  If  he  has  hopes  of  heaven,  it  will  be  on 
the  ground  of  his  own  self-righteousness.  Thus  the  Savior  will  be 
to  him  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground,  without  form  or  comeliness, 
and  the  work  of  grace  can  never  be  begun.  Thus  is  the  sinner, 
who  is  kept  ignorant  of  his  heart,  sealed  up  to  the  judgment,  and 
goes  on  as  the  ox  to  the  slaughter,  and  the  fool  to  the  correction 
of  the  stocks.  The  Spirit  of  God  will  sanctify  only  through  the 
truth,  and  the  entire  depravity  of  the  heart  is  a  first  truth,  without 
a  knowledge  of  which  no  sinner  was  ever  yet  fitted  for  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

A  gospel,  then,  if  we  must  so  call  it,  that  hides  from  men  the  de- 
formity of  their  moral  character,  betrays  and  ruins  them.  It  says 


316  IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS. 

to  the  wicked,  that  it  shall  be  well  with  them,  and  thus  cradles 
their  fears  to  sleep,  till  their  period  of  mercy  is  past ;  and  proves, 
ultimately,  the  greatest  calamity  that  can  befall  them.  It  closes 
upon  them  the  portals  of  eternal  life,  and  keeps  them  dreaming, 
and  fearless,  till  they  open  their  eyes  in  hell.  But  when  they  at 
last  make  the  discovery,  perhaps  on  the  bed  of  death,  or  it  may  be 
not  till  life  has  gone  out,  how  will  they  execrate  the  recollection 
of  such  a  gospel.  It  will  come  up  to  the  mind  as  does  the  tem- 
pest, that  wrecked  all  their  hopes  upon  the  relentless  reef;  or  the 
fire  that  forced  them  to  make  a  midnight  retreat  from  the  place 
that  had  been  long  their  safe  and  happy  home. 

The  ministers  of  Christ  would  love  to  preach  a  smoother  gospel, 
if  men  could  only  be  safe  under  it.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  have 
to  do  only  with  the  invitations,  and  the  promises,  and  the  hopes  of 
the  gospel.  They  had  far  rather  remind  the  believer  of  the  joys 
to  come,  than  admonish  the  unbeliever  of  the  judgment,  the  outer 
darkness,  and  the  gnawing  worm.  They  could  have  far  more 
pleasure  in  describing  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  than  in  portraying 
the  deformities  of  the  unsanctified  heart. 

But  the  grand  object  of  the  gospel  ministry  is  to  save  souls,  and 
this  object  is  not  gained,  unless  men  are  taught,  as  the  very  first 
lesson  of  that  ministry,  that  they  are  lost.  Hence  to  suppress  this 
truth,  would  be  to  neutralize  at  once  the  whole  effect  of  this  min- 
istry. Whatever  we  may  wish,  we  can  be  the  ministers  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  a  ruined  world,  but  on  this  one  condition, 
that  the  alienation  of  our  world  from  God  hold  the  place  of  a  first 
truth  in  every  effort  of  our  ministry.  The  gospel  has  absolutely 
no  meaning,  and  can  bft  of  no  use,  but  to  the  lost  and  the  condemned. 
3.  The  doctrine  of  the  text  is  esteemed  important,  as  it  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  the  whole  gospel  scheme.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
came  into  our  world,  to  seek  and  to  save  them  that  are  lost,  and 
the  whole  plan  of  salvation  is  so  interwoven  with  this  fact,  as, to 
be  unintelligible  without  it.  What  means  the  covenant  of  redemp- 
tion, but  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  we  are  captives  and 
slaves,  and  need  to  be  redeemed  1  what  is  there  intelligible  in  the 
atonement,  but  that  we  owe  ten  thousand  talents,  and  have  nothing 
to  pay  1  why  urged  to  repent,  but  that  we  are  in  love  with  sin,  and 
must  otherwise  perish  1  why  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but 
that  we  need  a  better  righteousness  than  our  own  to  shelter  us 
from  the  wrath  to  come  1  why  make  to  ourselves  a  new  heart,  but 
that  we  have  by  nature  evil  hearts  of  unbelief  inclining  us  to  de- 
part from  the  living  God  1 


IMPENITENT    MEN    DESTITUTE    OF    HOLINESS.  317 

And  let  me  ask,  why  all  the  threatenings  of  the  gospel,  but  that 
it  was  written  for  the  use  of  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people  1 
why  on  every  page  does  there  meet  us  some  anathema,  but  that  it 
was  intended  for  those  who  love  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  1  why 
has  death  passed  upon  all  men,  but  that  all  have  sinned  1  why  a 
judgmenf  and  a  place  of  torment,  but  that  those  who  have  carried 
their  entire  depravity  with  them  into  the  coming  world,  may  be 
distinguished,  and  may  go  to  their  own  place. 

FINALLY — It  is  matter  of  doubt  whether  an  honest  man,  acquaint- 
ed with  the  Bible,  and  willing  to  collect  his  creed  from  it,  will  find 
it  possible  to  exclude  the  doctrine  of  the  text  from  a  fundamental 
place  in  its  structure.  What  doctrine  can  he  preach,  if  he  denies 
it  1  what  precept  enforce  1  what  threatening  announce  1  what  pro- 
mise apply  1  We  need  no  gospel  if  this  doctrine  is  not  true,  and 
we  have  none.  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  tomorrow  we  die." 

Will  the  great  God  defend  his  own  truth,  and  bless  every  effort 
for  its  vindication,  and  sanctify  his  people  through  its  influence,  and 
speedily  let  it  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea.  Will 
he  bring  the  multitudes  of  the  ungodly  to  know,  that  they  are  in 
the  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity,  and  persuade 
them  to  fly  for  refuge,  to  lay  hold  of  the  hope  set  before  them  in 
the  gospel. 


SERMON   XXVII. 
ONLY  ONE  TRUE  GOD. 

JOHN   XVII.    3. 

This  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee  the  only  true  God. 

IN  the  report  of  that  gospel,  which  shall  deal  honestly  with  dy- 
ing men,  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  there  be  exhibited  the 
true  character  of  God.  As  men  are  to  be  sanctified  through  the 
truth,  it  will  be  confessed,  that  no  truth  can  be  of  higher  import  - 
v  ance,  than  that  which  relates  to  the  being  and  attributes  of  Jeho- 
vah. Unless  on  this  point  there  is  made  a  full  and  clear  exposure 
of  the  truth,  our  religion  may  be  so  defective,  as  to  neither  profit 
us  in  this  life,  nor  save  us  in  the  life  to  come.  Under  the  very 
names  that  belong  to  the  true  God,  we  may  worship  an  idol,  and 
thus  give  our  depravity  the  shape  of  the  grossest  insult. 

We  have  sometimes  listened  to  a  loud  and  earnest  address  on 
the  subject  of  religion,  and  it  professed  itself  the  gospel,  in  which 
the  character  of  the  true  God  was  industriously  concealed.  .Men 
may  speak  of  God,  and  with  much  engagedness ;  his  adorable 
names  may  swell  every  clause,  and  round  every  period,  and  the 
whole  be  uttered  with  a  decent  and  well-bred  softness ;  and  one 
may  suppose  himself  religiously  employed,  in  hearing  the  true  gos- 
pel, and  be  charmed  with  the  changes  rung  upon  the  names  he 
has  been  accustomed  to  adore  ;  and  still  the  God  proclaimed  may 
not  be  the  blessed  Jehovah.  There  may  be  a  view  exhibited  that 
does  not  belong  to  the  Creator,  but  to  some  imaginary  god  created 
for  the  occasion. 

The  text  would  furnish  several  topics  of  remark,  but  I  intend  to 
confine  myself  to  owe,  To  expose  some  of  the  false  views  of  Goo?, 
which  are  not  unfrequently  presented  to  us  under  the  appellation  of  the 
gospel ;  and  thus  illustrate  the  character  of  that  only  true  God 
whom  to  know  is  eternal  life. 

I.  There  is  sometimes  an  extolling  of  all  the  more  clement  attri- 
butes of  God,  as  some  have  presumptuously  distinguished,  while 
the  severer  attributes  are  unnoticed.  The  design  of  these  declaim- 
ers  seems  to  be  that  our  attention  be  fixed  exclusively  upon  what, 


ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD.  319 

in  their  estimation,  is  soft  and  mild  and  lovely  in  God,  while  his  ho- 
liness^ his  justice  and  his  truth  ; — all  in  him  that  can  go  to  make  a 
sinner  afraid,  or  beget  conviction  and  repentance,  is  industriously 
concealed.  God's  compassion  for  our  lost  and  miserable  world, 
his  patience,  his  endurance,  his  long-suffering,  his  promptness  to 
pardon,  and  total  aversion  to  destroy  ; — all  those  features  of  the 
Divine  mind,  that  can  soothe  alarm,  are  early  and  industriously 
developed,  as  if  embracing  the  whole  of  God  that  he  himself  loves, 
or  man  is  required  to  worship  and  adore  ;  while  the  other  parts  of 
the  divine  image  are  obscured,  as  one  would  hide  the  scars  and 
excrescences  that  have  fortuitously  covered  more  than  half  his 
visage.  Thus  the  great  luminary  of  the  moral  world  must  be  cast 
into  a  deep  and  dark  eclipse,  that  the  naked  eye  of  sense  may  gaze 
upon  his  few  remaining  glories.  It  is  feared,  we  presume,  that 
were  the  whole  character  of  God  exhibited,  sinners  would  be  filled 
with  disgust,  and  be  driven  from  the  bosom  of  their  Sovereign. 
He  must  not  adhere  to  the  principles  of  that  law  he  has  promul- 
gated, nor  care  to  vindicate  himself  from  the  aspersions  that  sin- 
ners have  cast  upon  his  character  and  his  government.  He  must  not 
resolve  that  mercy  and  truth  meet  together ;  and  that  righteous- 
ness and  peace  kiss  each  other.  He  must  cast  a  smile  upon  the 
prodigal,  ere/ he  shall  turn  his  face  or  his  feet  toward  his  father's 
house.  Thus  must  the  holy  and  righteous  God,  before  whom 
devils  tremble,  melt  down  into  the  weak  and  pitiful  parent,  or  not 
one  of  his  apostate  family  shall  come  back  to  his  bosom  and  his 
service.  So  men  would  judge. 

But  God  seems  to  have  had  other  views,  and  has  revealed  his 
whole  character,  fearless  of  the  predicted  consequences.  If  there 
was  any  danger  from  a  full  exposure  of  his  character,  why  did  he 
not  hold  himself  concealed,  or  throw  into  the  shade,  as  men  would 
do  for  him,  those  parts  of  his  character  that  must  give  offence  1  If 
that  be  good  policy  which  I  am  venturing  to  expose,  God  could 
have  directed  that  neither  the  works  of  creation,  nor  the  Bible, 
should  have  told  us  the  whole  truth  respecting  himself.  He  might 
have  suppressed  the  history  of  that  revolt  in  heaven,  and  its  re- 
sults, and  told  us  nothing  of  hell  and  the  judgment,  nor  named  in 
his  Book  those  attributes  that  throw  around  him  such  an  atmos- 
phere of  darkness  and  terror.  He  need  not  have  given  us,  if  he 
had  so  pleased,  the  stories  of  the  deluge,  and  of  Sodom,  and  of 
Korah  and  his  company.  But  God  has  exposed  the  whole  truth, 
and  that  in  the  very  Book  which  he  has  directed  should  be  our 
daily  companion. 


320  ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD. 

If  the  scheme  I  oppose  be  true,  I  know  not  how  to  account  for 
such  a  Bible  as  God  has  put  into  our  hands,  just  calculated  to  be- 
tray a  secret  that  should  not  have  been  divulged  for  worlds.  If 
there  belong  to  God  any  attributes  that  were  not  intended  to  be 
made  known  to  sinners  till  they  are  reconciled  to  him ;  if  they 
cannot  safely  be  told  that  he  is  angry  with  the  wicked  every  day, 
has  appointed  a  time  and  place  of  judgment,  and  prepared  a  deep 
and  dark  perdition  for  the  condemned ;  if  they  are  to  be  urged  to 
come  to  him,  expecting  to  find  him  all  mercy  ;  then  by  what  alarm- 
ing oversight  have  we  resolved  to  put  the  Bible  into  the  hands  of 
sinners  1  Must  the  parental  character  of  God  so  dazzle  and  fill 
the  eye,  as  to  eclipse  the  Sovereign,  and  the  Judge,  the  Abettor 
of  truth,  and  the  Avenger  of  wrong  and  of  outrage  1  And  must  we 
never  know  the  whole  character  of  God,  till  we  have  to  deal  with 
him  in  the  judgment  1  Can  we  be  sure  that  the  prodigal,  after  he  has 
been  thus  decoyed  home  to  his  father's  house,  will  be  pleased  with 
his  father  1  Had  he  not  better  know,  while  away  in  his  land  of 
exile,  exactly,  the  father  he  must  meet,  and  the  father  he  must 
love,  and  stay  there  till  his  character  is  approved  ? 

I  know  not  where  in  the  whole  Bible  we  are  authorized  to  ele- 
vate one  attribute  of  God  above  another,  and  term  the  one  mild 
and  the  other  severe.  I  know  not  where  men  have  learned,  that 
there  are  principles  in  the  Divine  nature  and  government,  that  to 
be  fully  known  would  subvert  the  benevolent  design  of  the  gospel. 
If  God  has  thus  instructed  any  of  his  ministers,  and  they  act  by 
his  authority  in  deciding  what  may  and  what  may  not  be  developed 
to  the  world  of  the  ungodly,  I  have  only  to  say,  "  To  their  own 
master  they  stand  or  fall." 

II.  There  is  perhaps  some  occasion  to  fear,  that  some  have  gone 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  and  have  presented  exclusively  the 
more  forbidding  attributes  of  God,  while  his  grace  and  mercy  have 
been  in  this  case  too  much  concealed.  When  Jehovah  is  exhibited 
as  constituted  of  entire  sovereignty  ;  as  doing  his  pleasure  in  the 
armies  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  without 
the  least  regard  to  the  happiness  and  the  salvation  of  his  creatures  ; 
as  casting  after  the  wayward  and  the  lost,  no  look  of  compassion- 
ate tenderness; — can  this  be  a  faithful  exhibition  of  the  character 
of  God  1  Should  it  be  said,  That  God  is  willing  to  show  his 
wrath,  and  that  he  has  created  intelligent  beings  on  purpose  that 
they  might  be  the  vessels  of  his  wrath ;  and  has  communicated 
positive  hardness  to  their  hearts,  because  they  did  not  render 


ONLY    O?s7E    TRUE    GOD.  321 

themselves  depraved  enough  for  his  purpose  j  and  pushed  them  on 
to  a  character,  that  would  be  sufficiently  desperate  for  some  deed 
of  darkness,  which  he  had  resolved  they  should  perpetrate ; — 
would  one  gather  from  all  this  the  true  character  of  God  1  I 
know  that  I  have  now  presented  an  extreme  case,  and  sincerely 
hope  that  not  often,  perhaps  never,  is  sovereignty  presented  quite 
so  bare  and  forbidding,  and  the  truth  pushed  to  an  extremity  so 
cold  and  cheerless.  The  objection  to  such  presentations  is,  that 
they  do  not  exhibit  the  whole  character  of  God.  He  is  willing  to 
show  his  wrath,  only  wffere  his  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
long  and  obstinately  rejected.  He  created  intelligent  beings  for 
his  own  glory,  and  will  honor  himself  in  their  perdition,  if  by 
rejecting  the  Savior,  they  count  themselves  unworthy  of  eternal 
life.  He  has  hardened  their  hearts  by  the  very  dispensations  that 
should  have  won  them  to  duty  and  to  God  ;  has  sent  them  strong 
delusions  that  they  might  believe  a  lie  and  be  damned,  when  they 
did  not  believe  the  truth,  but  had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness. 
We  must  pour  into  these  strong  exhibitions  of  truth,  in  order  to 
render  them  the  gospel,  and  make  them  useful,  the  whole  charac- 
ter of  God. 

How  can  you  hope  to  persuade  rebels  to  submit  themselves  to 
this  bare  and  appalling  sovereignty  1  Why  must  they  become 
reconciled  to  their  Creator,  before  they  may  even  know  that  he  is 
a  God  of  mercy,  or  has  it  in  his  heart- to  bestow  pardons!  An 
apostle  has  said,  "  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to 
forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness." 
I  am  not  without  my  fears,  that  on  this  side  of  the  line  of  ortho- 
doxy there  has  sometimes  been  presented  a  character  of  God,  as 
imperfect,  not  to  say  as  unsafe,  as  when  only  his  clemency  is  seen. 
And  who  can  say  that  God  would  not  be  as  unwilling  that  one  set 
of  his  attributes  should  be  exclusively  presented,  as  another  1 
Under  neither  have  we  a  full  and  honest  portrait  of  the  only  true 
God,  whom  to  know  is  eternal  life.  While  the  one  error  will  lead 
unregenerate  men  to  presume  that  they  love  their  Maker,  so  under 
the  other  it  is  feared,  that  many  true  believers  may  be  kept  all 
their  life-time  subject  to  bondage  through  fear  of  perdition.  The 
one  will  make  a  multitude  of  happy  hypocrites,  while  the  other 
will  conduct  to  heaven  whole  churches  of  trembling,  doubting  be- 
lievers. The  one  will  widen  the  fold, /ill  the  sheep  and  the  goats 
can  herd  together  ;  the  other  will  contract  it  till  many  of  the 
lambs  must  lie  without,  and  be  exposed  to  storms  and  beasts  of 
prey  ;  and  finally  neither  presents  correctly  the  character  of  God. 
4.1 


322  ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD. 

III.  We  have  sometimes  presented  us  a  picture  of  warring  attri- 
butes. Mercy  triumphs  over  justice,  and  grace  is  made  victorious 
over  truth  and  righteousness.  Under  this  system,  God  disapproves 
the  properties  of  his  own  nature,  and  the  principles  of  his  own 
government ;  and  contrives  to  defeat  and  nullify  his  own  decrees. 
He  issued  his  law,  and  pronounced  it  good,  and  made  in  it  no  pro- 
vision for  pardon  ;  none  he  could  make  ;  and  when  the  sinner 
broke  that  taw,  he  passed  sentence,  and  threatened  its  execution. 
But  he  is  now  made  to  repent  of  the  sternness,  and  integrity,  and 
purity,  that  dictated  that  law,  and  uttered  that  sentence,  and 
threatened  its  execution :  and  is  re-resolved,  {hat,  come  what  will 
of  reproach  upon  his  name,  and  injury  to  his  government  and  king- 
dom, the  sinner  shall  not  suffer.  He  built  a  place  of  torment,  and 
separated  it  from  heaven  by  a  bottomless  gulf,  and  made  it  a  dark, 
and  dreary,  and  desolate  abode ;  but  he  has  since  had  better  and 
milder  views ;  has  decreed  that  ultimately  the  gulf  shall  become 
passable,  the  fires  shall  go  out,  and  the  worm  shall  die. 

And  all  this  is  contrived  to  save  the  Divine  honor.  To  let  God 
be  what  he  is,  and  do  what  he  has  said,  and  carry  into  execution 
his  own  purpose,  would,  it  is  believed,  so  hurt  his  reputation  with 
the  population  of  the  apostacy,  that  any  thing,  that  can  be,  must 
be  done  to  save  it.  There  must  rather  be  suspicion  cast  over  the 
whole  record  that  would  exhibit  God  as  so  inflexibly  holy,  and 
reproach  poured  in  upon  the  bigoted  multitude  that  would  so 
rigidly  explain  the  word.  The  Book  of  God,  plain  as  it  is,  may 
rather  mean  nothing,  and  John  record  falsely,  and  Paul  reason  in- 
conclusively, than  to  blot  so  foully  and  fatally  the  Divine  reputation, 
To  complete  the  picture,  the  Son  of  God  is  despatched  from 
heaven  to  take  the  part  of  sinners,  and  shield  them  from  the  sword 
of  a  devouring  justice.  He  saw,  it  seems,  that  the  execution  of 
the  law  would  ruin  the  credit  of  the  court,  of  heaven,  which  gave 
sentence,  and  hasted  down  to  counteract  the  decree.  What  was 
stern,  and  unbending,  and  cruel  in  the  Father,  has  been  softened 
down  in  the  Son.  He  covers  the  rebel  with  his  hand,  smiles  on 
him,  wipes  away  his  tears!,  and  prays  him  to  forgive  a  father's  un- 
just severity.  His  errand  was  to  stay  the  rod  of  justice.  He 
makes  no  atonement — none  is  necessary — asks  no  change  of  heart 
in  the  culprit,  -but  a  mere  reform,  as  the  condition  of  pardon  and 
life. 

v  Thus  has  the  character  of  God  been  so  exhibited,  as  to  involve 
heaven  in  a  quarrel,  and  place  the  persons  of  the  Godhead  at  issue, 
on  the  question,  whether  the  honors  of  the  broken  law  deserve  to 


ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD.          '  323 

be  repaired,  or  its  Author  shall  sink  into  universal  disrespect  1 
What  in  the  mean  time  shall  happen  to  the  divine  government  in 
heaven,  and  in  all  the  worlds  that  have  continued  loyal,  and  have 
had  hitherto  the  utmost  confidence  in  the  unchangeably  wise  and 
holy  God  1  O,  I  feel  that  the  ground  on  which  I  stand  is  holy ! 
Will  God  forgive  me,  if  in  attempting  to  vindicate  his  honor  I 
have  drawn  near  to  him  without  being-  duly  sanctified] 

I  know  that  men  who  have  resolved  to  go  on  in  sin,  who  have 
]ong  been  offended  at  the  purity  and  extent  of  the  law,  and  would 
not  care  if  all  the  rights  of  the  Godhead  were  trampled  upon,  find 
it  very  convenient  to  have  the  character  of  God  thus  brought  down 
to  their  taste  and  their  temper.  They  will  support  and  will  love  a 
gospel  that  will  thus  make  God  altogether  such  an  one  as  them- 
selves.  Give  them  a  gospel  like  this,  and  in  half  a  century  there 
will  not ,  be  an  avowed  infidel  on  the  whole  face  of  the  earth. 
Gladly  would  they  be  rid  of  the  reproach  of  infidelity,  could  they 
have  a  gospel  that  would  promise  them  a  salvation  equally  cheap 
and  convenient. 

If  God  will  give  out  his  word,  and  then  break  it ;  will  make  a 
law  and  when  men  have  fallen  under  its  curse,  repeal  it ;  will  join 
the  rebel  in  hating  his  own  attributes ;  will  issue  an  edict,  and  then 
a  counter  edict  by  which  the  first  is  neutralized;  this  is  all  exactly 
as  they  would  have  it.  God  is  invested  with  all  the  human  weak- 
nesses. So  Ahasuerus  would  make  a  decree,  assigning  to  death 
all  his  Jewish  subjects,  and  then  enact  another,  directing  them  to 
arm  themselves  for  their  own  defence,  and  thus  his  decree  comes 
to  the  ground.  But  how  will  God  be  affected  by  these  inroads 
made  upon  his  name  and  his  glory  1  Will  he  suffer  his  character 
to  be  tampered  with,  and  finally  to  be  thus  frittered  down  to  the 
taste  and  the  convenience  of  a  polished,  and  proud,  and  worldly, 
and  time-serving  generation  1  Will  it  still  be  eternal  life  to  know 
him,  altered  thus,  till  not  an  angel  in  heaven  would  know  him  1 
altered  till  all  that  devils  disapproved,  and  that  believers  loved,  is 
gone  1 

Let  me  now  ask  the  advocates  of  all  these  schemes,  what  they 
<rain  1  Why  not  be  willing,  that  the  blessed  God  be  exhibited  to 
the  minds  of  men,  in  the  very  character  that  he  gives  himself.  Let 
him  be  what  he  declared  himself  to  be,  on  that  occasion  when  it 
was  his  special  object  to  make  himself  known  :  "  The  Lord,  the 
Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering  and  abundant  in 
goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  ini- 
quity, and  transgression,  and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear 


324  ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD. 

the  guilty  !  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children, 
and  upon  the  children's  children,  unto  the  third  and  to  the  fourth 
generations."  Here  we  have,  (if  I  may  still  use  the  terms  which 
it  grieves  me  to  use,)  the  milder  and  the  severer  attributes  of  God. 
In  this  very  character  we  must  deal  with  him  at  last,  the  same  that 
he  was  when  he  spoke  to  Moses  from  the  cloud.  Let  there  be  a 
perfect  balance  among  his  attributes.  Let  him  be  neither  too 
merciful  to  be  just,  nor  too  "just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  cleanse 
us  from  all  unrighteousness ;"  not  too  compassionate  to  be  holy, 
nor  too  holy  to  smile  again  upon  the  rebel,  who  has  fled  for  refuge 
to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  him  in  the  gospel ;  and  too  gra- 
cious to  be  true,  nor  so  the  friend  of  truth  as  not  to  reverse  the 
sentence  of  death,  when  the  condemned  have  repented  and  believed. 
God  can  have  no  darling  attribute  that  shall  eclipse  the  other  por- 
tions of  his  character  ;  can  issue  no  clashing  edicts  ;  and  did  not 
send  his  Son  to  soothe,  and  flatter,  and  defend  the  rebel,  whom  his 
justice  condemned,  leaving  him  still  in  all  his  stubbornness  and 
his  pride. 

Why  this  zeal  to  create  confusion  in  the  counsels  of  the  God- 
head, and  sunder  the  attributes  that  cluster  in  Jehovah  1  Simply 
to  gratify  men  who  cannot  be  pleased  with  God  as  he  is.  But 
would  they  be  pleased  with  God  were  his  character  altered  1  They 
could  not  love  an  unjust  God,  unless  indeed  he  would  pledge  himself 
never  to  treat  them  unjustly.  And  on  ceasing  to  be  a  God  of  truth, 
he  could  not  give  that  pledge.  The  sinner  will  reason,  When  God 
shall  cease  to  be  offended  with  me  for  wronging  my  neighbor,  he 
will  not  be  offended  with  my  neighbor  for  injuring  me.  If  /  may 
hurt  another,  and  escape  with  impunity,  my  oppressor  escapes  also. 
If  7  may  prey  upon  the  contents  of  his  purse,  and  trample  upon 
his  rights,  and  sport  with  his  enjoyments  ;  then  is  there  a  world  let 
loose,  to  trifle  with  my  interest,  and  make  inroads  upon  my  rights, 
and  blast  my  comforts. 

Thus  is  there  spread  a  ruin  as  wide  as  the  whole  creation  of 
Gody  Angels  lose  their  confidence  in  him,  and  all  heaven  is  made 
unhappy,  while  the  despair  of  the  pit  is  changed  for  the  hope  of 
impunity.  We  assert  then,  that  not  the  grossest  infidelity,  nor 
even  atheism,  holds  out  a  prospect  more  dreary  than  a  gospel,  that 
thus  libels  the  character  of  Jehovah,  and,  by  one  grand  mistake, 
sunders  the  whole  of  this  alienated  world  for  ever,  from  the  au- 
thority, and  the  rule,  and  the  inspection,  of  an  intrusive  and  dis- 
gustful divinity. 

And  when  the  error  is  on  the  opposite  extreme   and  the  mercy 


ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD.  325 

of  God  is  obscured,  though  a  different  motive  may  have  led  to  this 
exhibition,  and  a  different  result  may  follow,  still  is  that  motive  a 
mistaken  one,  and  that  result  unhappy.  God  has  not  directed  his 
ministers  to  keep  the  minds  of  his  people  filled  with  one  or  two 
selected  attributes  of  his  nature,  but  would  have  his  whole  charac- 
ter developed.  Some  may  be  deterred  from  embracing  religion, 
from  the  impression  that  they  must  love  a  God  whose  character  is 
cold,  calculating,  severe,  and  vindictive.  And  if  sanctified  under 
such  a  gospel,  it  is  doubtful  whether  their  religion  will  not  be 
either  gloomy  and  desponding,  or  coldly  doctrinal  and  polemic. 

The  character  of  God  will  not  be  found  at  last  to  have  shaped 
itself  to  our  mistaken  views  of  him ;  but  will  be,  when  we  come 
to  deal  with  him  in  the  judgment,  what  it  always  was.  The  attri- 
butes and  the  glories  that  may  now  be  obscured,  eclipsed  or  neu- 
tralized, will  all  be  there  to  cluster  and  harmonize  in  the  burning 
glories  of  the  Godhead,  on  the  day  of  retribution.  A  God  will 
then  meet  us  as  holy,  and  just,  and  true,  as  the  law,  and  the  light- 
nings of  Sinai  would  make  him  ;  and  still  as  merciful  and  gracious, 
and  long-suffering,  as  Pisgah,  and  Tabor,  and  Calvary  have  de- 
clared him.  He  will  confess  himself  in  that  day  the  Author  of  all 
the  anathemas  and  all  the  promises  of  inspiration.  Time  will 
not  have  altered  his  character,  nor  the  exigencies  of  betrayed  and 
ruined  souls  moved  him  from  a  single  purpose.  There  will  gather 
in  his  brow  all  the  majesty  that  makes  devils  afraid,  and  all  the 
sweetness  that  makes  angels  glad ;  the  one  will  look  the  lost  into 
despair,  and  the  combined  glories  of  the  whole  look  the  saved  into 
ecstasy.  Then  will  be  felt  the  full  import  of  the  text ;  the  only 
true  God  will  be  known,  and  to  know  him  will  be  eternal  life. 

REMARKS. 

1  have  three  reasons  to  offer  for  thinking  this  subject  of  great 
importance. 

1.  Men  will  have  a  moral  character  according  with  their  views  of 
God.  As  the  truth  sanctifies,  just  so  surely  does  error  contaminate, 
and  no  truths  or  errors  so  assuredly  as  those  that  relate  to  God. 
They  invariably  pour  their  influence  through  our  whole  creed,  and 
touch  every  spring  of  action.  Hence  if  men  think  rightly  of  God, 
I  cannot  but  hope  that  the  truth  will  one  day  sanctify  them  ;  but 
if  otherwise  I  have  fearful  apprehensions  of  their  ruin.  The  basest 
of  men  act  from  principle,  though  from  bad  principle.  They  are 
profane,  and  false,  and  lewd,  and  dishonest,  because  some  false 
views  of  God  have  begotten  in  them  the  hope  of  impunity.  From 


326  ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD. 

a  loose  ministry,  or  vicious  parentage,  or  vile  associate,  they  have 
imbibed  the  principles  that  go  to  mould  their  deeds  and  their  habits 
into  the  image  of  death.  You  may  pass  down,  if  you  please, 
through  all  the  ranks  of  immorality,  from  the  young  man  in  the 
gospel,  who  loved  the  world  more  than  Christ,  to  the  abandoned 
outlaw,  and  you  will  find  as  many  different  shades  in  their  faith,  as 
in  the  turpitude  of  their  deeds.  And  every  unregenerate  man 
stands  prepared  to  have  his  faith  corrupted.  He  loves  darkness 
rather  than  light,  because  his  deeds  are  evil.  He  is  on  the  watch 
to  hear  something  said  of  God,  that  may  assist  him  in  loosening 
the  bonds  of  moral  obligation.  Hence  many  a  youth  has  issued 
from  the  house  of  prayer,  modest,  civil,  and  decent,  fearing  an 
oath,  respecting  the  Sabbath,  doing  homage  to  religion,  and  giving 
high  promise  of  future  worth  and  usefulness  j  but  some  wretch 
corrupted  his  views  of  God,  and  immediately  he  cast  off  restraint, 
and  went  out  to  scatter  through  society  firebrands,  arrows  and 
death.  Hence,  if  we  regard  the  eternal  life  of  our  children,  and 
the  youth  in  our  streets,  we  shall  furnish  them  a  gospel,  and  a 
library,  and  give  them  that  instruction  which  will  lead  them  to  a 
correct  knowledge  of  God. 

2.  Believers  will  have  a  religious  character  according  with  their 
views  of  God.  Nothing  has  been  more  obvious  in  the  history  of 
man,  than  the  conformity  of  his  religious  character  to  that  of  the 
God  he  believed  in  and  worshipped.  Pass  through  the  territories 
of  paganism,  and,  such  as  you  find  their  gods,  such  are  their  wor- 
shippers. Are  they  fierce,  and  jealous,  and  lewd,  and  bloody,  or 
mild  and  placable,  such  invariably  are  their  devotees.  And  as  you 
come  up  through  the  lower  grades  of  nominal  Christians,  ask  them 
their  views  of  God,  and  their  answer  will  give  you  substantially 
the  purity  of  their  religious  character.  God  is  our  highest  object 
of  respect  and  of  imitation,  and  to  be  like  him,  the  highest  object 
of  holy  aspiration.  Hence,  if  in  our  esteem  his  character  is  more 
or  less  pure  and  lovely,  such  we  shall  wish  our  own  to  be.  He 
who  sees  in  God  no  attribute  but  mercy,  and  never  thinks  of  him 
but  as  a.  father,  will  be  less  likely  to  hate  sin,  and  less  careful  to  be 
holy,  than  the  man  who  thinks  of  God  as  a  sovereign  and  a  judge, 
as  well  as  a  father. 

And  the  case  will  be  similar  as  to  enjoyment.  No  false  views  of 
God  will  render  us  as  happy  as  correct  views.  If  we  see  only  the 
mild  and  merciful  traits  of  the  divine  character,  we  may  have  joy, 
but  it  will  not  be  solid  and  lasting.  And  if  we  look  at  God  merely 
in  the  attitude  of  sovereignty,  and  may  never  call  him  our  Father, 


ONLY    ONE    TRUE    GOD.  327 

or  see  his  mercy  commingled  with  his  terrors,  we  shall  be  for  ever 
in  bondage.  There *are  no  doubt  many  on  their  way  to  heaven, 
who  are  so  injured  by  their  creed,  as  seldom  to  pray  any  other  but 
the  prayer  of  the  condemned  and  the  lost.  They  are  serious  and 
watchful  Christians,  but  never  hopeful,  and  never  happy:  joint 
heirs  with  Christ,  yet  never  venturing  to  say,  Abba  Father ! 

Nor  will  Christians  who  have  partial  views  of  God  be  useful. 
It  is  when  he  appears  in  all  his  glories,  attracting  sinners  to  him- 
self by  the  full  view  of  his  attributes,  and,  mingling  mercy  with 
judgment,  reigns  to  make  his  creatures  happy,  that  we  feel  our 
souls  inspired  to  be  workers  together  with  him  in  extending  his 
dominions.  It  is  then  that  it  seems  to  us  a  grief  and  a  pity,  that 
there  should  be  any  heart  alienated  from  him,  any  hands  that  do 
not  labor  in  his  service,  or  tongue  that  does  not  speak  his  praise. 
Not  the  sovereignty  of  God  alone,  nor  his  mercy  alone,  can  make  the 
most  useful  man.  The  one  holds  back  the  inspiring  influence  of 
joy  and  hope,  the  other  begets  a  religion  tha-t  will  all  evaporate 
in  songs  and  hosannas.  Angels  are  inspired,  by  seeing  the  whole 
of  God ;  and  men  will  be  more  or  less  like  angels,  as  "  The  God 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  glory,  shall  give  unto  them 
the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  himself." 
Then  it  is  that  we  feel  it  to  be  a  reasonable  service,  that  we  pre- 
sent our  bodies  and  our  souls  to  him,  a  living  sacrifice,  holy  and 
acceptable. 

3.  Society  at  large  will  shape  its  moral  aspect  from  the  prevailing 
views  of  God.  As  fraud,  and  falsehood,  and  blood,  invariably  follow 
the  track  of  idolatry,  and  the  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  thus  fill- 
ed with  the  habitations  of  cruelty ;  so  in  the  different  parts  of 
Christendom,  you  may  gather  the  prevailing  notions  of  God  from 
the  morals  of  the  community.  Survey  the  darker  territories  of  the 
Catholic  communion,  and  tell  me  if  in  rapine  and  murder,  their  po- 
pulation is  removed  more  than  a  single  shade  from  the  dreariness 
and  desolations  of  paganism.  Where  in  Christendom  is  life  and 
property  least  secure  ;  where  are  daily  assassinations,  where  the 
whole  population  prepared  for  any  deed  of  darkness  and  cruelty, 
but  where  there  is  least  prevalent  a  correct  knowledge  of  God. 
And  let  any  one  of  the  better  territories  of  Christendom  become 
apostate  in  their  views  of  God,  and  how  soon  will  vice  spring  up, 
the  public  morals  be  changed,  the  Sabbath  be  lost,  the  theatre 
thronged,  and  dress  and  vanity  fill  the  place  of  sobriety  and  prayer ! 
How  soon  will  the  true  followers  of  Christ  be  persecuted,  and  fa- 


328  ONLY    ONE   TRUE    GOD. 

mily  devotion,  and  Christian  watchfulness,  and  all  the  retiring  vir- 
tues of  holier  times  disappear ! 

Thus  you  have  my  reasons  for  thinking  this  subject  important. 
For  these,  and  others  that  could  be  offered,  I  would  watch  the 
public  creed  relative  to  the  character  of  God,  more  tenaciously 
than  at  any  other  point.  It  is  the  fortress  I  would  starve  in  de- 
fending, the  strong-hold  into  which  I  would  fly  with  my  children, 
and  feel  myself,  and  teach  them  to  feel,  that  it  is  the  only  safe 
place  to  die. 

Will  the  blessed  God  make  me  far  better  acquainted  with  his 
character,  and  never  subject  me  to  the  awful  temptation,  of  think- 
ing it  a  light  thing  to  either  overlook,  or  give  paramount  import- 
ance, to  any  one  of  the  glorious  attributes  of  his  nature  !  Will  he 
cause  his  name  to  be  known  in  all  lands,  and  make  his  praise  glo- 
rious, wherever  there  are  beings  capable  of  doing  him  honor  ! 


SERMON    XXVIII. 
THE  INDEX  SURE. 

GEN.  XLIX.   10. 

The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh 
come:  and  unto  him* shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be. 

JACOB  was  now  very  near  to  the  close  of  life,  and  had  strong 
apprehensions  that  his  end  might  be  at  hand.  But  he  had  yet  to 
deliver  to  his  children  his  dying  benediction.  He  accordingly 
called  them  about  him,  and  rehearsed  to  them  the  future  history 
of  their  respective  families,  for  ages  to  come.  Of  Judah  he  pre- 
dicted, that  he  should  stand  high  in  the  esteem  and  respect  of  his 
brethren,  should  overthrow  his  enemies,  and  should  bear  rule  over 
his  father's  children.  He  should  come  upon  his  enemies  with  all 
the  strength  and  the  daring  with  which  a  lion  comes  down  from 
the  mountains,  seizes  and  bears  up  his  prey,  while  no  one  dares  to 
interrupt  his  course,  or  rouse  him  when  he  has  betaken  himself  to 
rest.  His  land  should  bexso  abundant  in  vines,  that  he  might 
fasten  his  beast  to  their  branches,  and  wash  his  vestments  in  the 
blood  of  the  grape.  He  should  have  a  dominion  so  permanent, 
that  nothing  should  interrupt  it  till  the  advent  of  Messiah,  who 
should  gather  the  nations  about  him,  and  hold  the  sceptre  for  ever. 

That  part  of  this  famous  prediction,  on  which  I  purpose  to  en- 
large, has  attracted  the  attention  and  confirmed  the  faith  of  be- 
lievers in  every  age  since.  We  see  here  selected  a  single  family, 
who  for  ages  should  constitute  his  Church,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others  ;  with  whom  he  would  deposit  his  law,  and  all  that  was 
divulged  of  his  purpose.  One  branch  of  this  family  should  be 
honored  above  the  others,  should  give  birth  to  the  Messiah,  and 
hold  the  authority  till  he  come.  Thus  the  world  shall  expect  their 
Redeemer,  shall  know  where  and  when  to  look  for  him,  and  if  pre- 
pared to  receive  him,  shall  be  in  no  danger  of  imposition.  The 
text  is  one  of  those  scriptures  that  marked  out  the  time  when  the 
Messiah  should  appear. 

By  the  word-  sceptre  we  are  no  doubt  to  understand  the  ensign 
or  badge  of  authority.  The  word  signifies  a  rod  or  staff  and 
42 


330  THE    INDEX   SURE. 

hence  came  to  mean  a  sceptre  j  as  kings,  when  they  sat  upon  their 
thrones,  used  to  hold  in  their  hand  a  rod  as  a  token  of  their  author- 
ity. Hence,  when  Esther  presented  herself  to  the  king,  he 
reached  out  to  her  the  golden  sceptre. 

The  text  gives  us  no  intimation  when  Judah  should  rise  to 
dominion,  but  when  he  should  take  the  sceptre  into  his  hand  it 
should  not  depart  till  the  coming  of  Shiloh.  We  know  that  for  a 
long  time  after  the  delivery  of  this  inspired  benediction,  the 
government  of  Israel  was  not  in  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Moses,  their 
first  ruler,  was  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  The  judges  were  of  several 
different  tribes.  Saul,  the  first  king,  was  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin. 
But  David,  his  successor,  was  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  ;  and  in  him, 
six  hundred  years  after  the  prediction,  the  authority  commenced 
which  is  noticed  in  the  text,  and  which  continued  till  the  coming 
of  the  promised  Shiloh. 

The  Jews,  to  evade  the  force  of  this  prophecy,  would  have  the 
word  translated  sceptre,  to  mean  the  rod  of  correction,  which,  they 
say,  shall  not  depart  from  Judah  till  Shiloh  come  and  liberate 
them.  But  this  exposition  is  contrary,  in  the  first  place,  to  the 
whole  tenor  of  the  context,  which  assigns  to  Judah  power,  glory, 
and  victory.  It  would  be  very  singular  if  one  clause  of  the  bene- 
diction would  give  him  the  pride,  the  strength,  and  the  indepen- 
dence of  a  lion,  and  another  clause  make  him  the  subject  of  per- 
petual oppression.  In  the  second  place,  this  exposition  would  be 
contrary  to  matters  of  historical  fact,  which  the  Jews  themselves 
would  not  have  the  folly  to  contradict.  Judah  was  at  no  one 
period  signalized  as  a  sufferer.  The  rod  of  oppression  came  ear- 
lier, and  fell  heavier,  and  continued  longer  on  the  other  tribes  than 
on  Judah.  And  as  Judah  is  the  only  tribe  that  returned  entire 
after  the  captivity,  it  would  seem  the  only  one  from  which  the  rod 
of  oppression  did  depart.  But  it  is  only  hatred  to  the  light,  that 
has  led  that  unbelieving  people  to  this  interpretation.  The  ancient 
Jews,  and  all  who  have  understood  the  language  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  its  original,  and  have  had  no  particular  inducement  to  per- 
vert the  text,  have  rendered  the  word  sceptre. 

And  the  next  clause  still  farther  explains  this,  "  Nor  a  law-giver 
from  between  his  feet."  It  is  natural  that  a  sceptre  be  in  the  hands 
of  a  law-giver.  But  some  have  chosen  to  render  the  word  scribe 
instead  of  law-giver,  and  would  have  us  understand  by  it  one  who 
is  employed  in  writing  laws,  either  civil  or  ecclesiastical.  If  this 
rendering  could  be  justified,  it  would  not  much  vary  the  sense. 
But  it  is  believed  that  this  rendering  cannot  be  justified,  as  the 


THE    INDEX    SURE.  331 

Hebrews  use  for  scribe  another  word.  Hence  the  passage  means, 
that  there  shall  be  in  Judah,  till  the  coming  of  Shiloh,  a  law-giver 
as  well  as  the  ensign  of  authority.  The  kind  of  government  is 
not  specified,  nor  is  it  important,  as  the  truth  of  the  prophecy  will 
be  evident,  if  it  shall  appear  that  there  was  in  the  tribe  of  Judah 
any  species  of  authority  down  to  the  advent  of  the  Redeemer. 

That  by  Shiloh  we  are  to  understand  the  Messiah  there  will  be 
little  doubt.  The  word  thus  rendered  is  used  only  in  this  place, 
yet  is  allowed  by  all  classes  of  commentators  to  refer  to  the  Re- 
deemer. Some  interpret  it  a  peace-maker,  a  Savior ;  others  a 
preserver,  a  deliverer  j  and  others  still,  with  greater  probability, 
the  sent,  or  one  to  be  sent.  This  idea  exactly -comports  with  the 
attitude  in  which  the  Savior  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, as  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  the  angel  Jehovah.  Hence, 
in  the  New  Testament,  he  is  spoken  of  as  him  that  was  to  come. 
The  woman  of  Samaria  said  to  our  Lord,  "  I  know  that  Messiah 
cometh,  which  is  called  Christ :  when  he  is  come  he  will  tell  us 
all  things.  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I  that  speak  to  thee  am  he." 
The  Jewish  expositors  are  generally  agreed  that  the  text  has 
reference  to  the  Savior. 

Their  quibble  about  the  word  which  we  render  until,  but  dis- 
covers their  weakness  and  their  obstinacy.  It  is  compounded  of 
two  particles  j  one  they  render /or  ever,  and  the  other  because,  and 
read  the  text  thus  :  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor 
a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet  for  ever,  because  Shiloh  shall 
come."  But  beside  that  this  construction  is  forced,  it  would  not 
comport  with  facts,  which  they  must  all  acknowledge.  For  while 
they  generally  deny  that  the  Messiah  has  come,  they  will  not  deny 
that  now  the  sceptre  has  departed  from  Judah.  Some  of  them 
have  been  so  cramped  on  this  subject  as  to  adopt  the  absurdity 
that  the  Messiah  ha's  come,  but  keeps  himself  hidden  because  of 
their  wickedness.  Thus  men  will  make  the  word  of  God  to  mean 
any  thing  rather  than  not  support  their  favorite  scheme  ;  and  when 
the  text  proves  too  obstinate  to  be  resisted,  will  adopt  the  most 
improbable  conjectures  to  prop  the  fabric  of  falsehood.  But  error 
is  for  ever  thus  changeable  and  uncertain.  Like  the  fabled  isle 
of  Delos,  it  for  ever  fluctuates,  nor  can  men  or  devils  give  it  per- 
manent location.  If  one  would  be  entirely  certain  that  modern 
Unitarianism  has  no  foundation  in  truth,  he  has  only  to  compare 
the  shifts  of  its  advocates,  with  the  endlessly  varying  conjectures 
of  the  Jews  since  the  death  of  Christ,  to  rid  themselves  of  the  con- 
viction that  he  has  already  come  and  set  up  his  kingdom.  In 


332  THE    INDEX    SURE. 

either  community  they  hold  you  in  suspense  for  ever.  When  they 
should  inform  what  Ihe  text  does  mean,  they  only  bewilder  you 
with  illusions,  and  brow-beat  you  with  assertions  of  what  it  can- 
not mean,  and  must  not  mean,  and  finally,  if  they  would  be  honest, 
what  it  shall  not  mean.  Nothing  but  truth  is  plain  and  consistent : 
error  is  inconsistent,  not  only  with  truth,  but  with  itself. 

I.  Is  it  then  a  fact  that  there  continued  to  be  a  sceptre  and  a 
law-giver  in  the  tribe  of  Judah  down  to  the  time  of  the  Savior  1 
On  this  point  a  little  inquiry  will  give,  it  is  presumed,  entire  satis- 
faction. Down  to  the  captivity  there  will  be  no  doubt.  And  if 
during  that  period  there  should  seem  to  have  been  a  suspension  of 
Judah' s  authority,  still  it  is  a  fact  that  there  was  no  transfer  of  au- 
thority to  any  other  tribe.  And  if  for  that  short  space  we  could 
see  no  remains  of  authority,  it  should  not  be  considered  as  nulli- 
fying the  prediction.  Seventy  years,  in  a  period  so  long  as  that 
which  intervened  between  the  delivery  of  this  prediction  and  the 
coming  of  Christ,  would  be  too  insignificant  to  be  excepted  in  a 
general  prophecy.  But  the  fact  seems  to  be,  that  the  tribe  of  Ju- 
dah did  hold  its  ascendency  even  during  the  period  of  their 
dispersion.  We  are  assured  that  the  king  of  Babylon  took  from 
prison,  and  treated  with  marked  kindness,  Jehoiachin,  king  of  Ju- 
dah, thirty-seven  years  after  his  captivity ;  and  it  is  said  that  he 
set  his  throne  above  the  throne  of  the  kings  that  were  in  Babylon  : 
and  Jehoiachin  we  know  was  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Thus  the 
sceptre  did  not  depart,  even  when  that  tribe  had  its  residence  in  a 
strange  land.  Daniel  too,  we  know,  was  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
and  was  made  governor  over  the  whole  province  of  Babylon,  and  of 
course  over  the  children  of  the  captivity.  And  we  have  no  reason 
to  doubt  but  that  the  Jewish  writers  assert  the  truth  when  they 
assure  us  that  the  successive  governors  of  the*  exiled  Jews,  con- 
tinued to  be  selected  from  the  tribe  of  Judah  and  the  house  of  Da- 
vid. So  Zorobabel  and  Neherniah  are  both  said  to  have  been  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah. 

And  when  afterward  the  civil  power  was  vested  principally  in 
the  Sanhedrim,  still  the  sceptre  must  doubtless  be  considered  as  re- 
maining in  the  tribe  of  Judah.  That  the  Sanhedrim  had  very  great 
power  there  will  be  no  question.  That  council  was  instituted  by 
the  Lord  himself,  an  account  of  which  we  have  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Numbers.  And  they  were  not  dispersed  nor  wholly 
disrobed  of  power  up  to  the  time  when  they  sat  in  judgment  on 
the  Son  of  God.  From  the  close  of  the  captivity  to  the  deetruc- 


THE    INDEX    SURE.  333 

tion  of  the  temple,  this  body  continued  to  be  the  great  council  of 
the  nation.  At  first  they  were  to  be  chosen  from  all  the  tribes, 
but  after  their  return  from  Babylon,  they  were  principally  of  the 
house  of  Judah,  though  occasionally  of  Levi  and  of  Benjamin. 
But  these  two  tribes  were  amalgamated  with,  and  as  it  were,  lost 
in  the  tribes  of  Judah,  and  whatever  they  might  do  was  done  by 
virtue  of  authority  derived  from  the  tribe  with  which  they  had  be- 
come incorporated.  Hence  the  sceptre  did  not  depart. 

Even  when  the  Romans  appointed  them  a  king,  still  the  Sanhe- 
drim had  large  powers.  Even  Herod  the  Great  was  tried  for  his 
life  before  that  court.  If  it  should  be  said  that  their  authority 
was  in  a  great  measure  neutralized,  when  Judea  became  a  Roman 
province,  and  an  Idumesan  was  constituted  their  Sovereign,  still  it 
was  not  wholly  destroyed.  They  long  contended  with  Herod 
about  the  supreme  authority,  nor  could  they  be  prevailed  upon  to 
take  the  oath  of  loyalty  till  after  the  birth  of  the  Savior.  At  the 
time  of  his  arrest  we  find  them  still  embodied,  and  sitting  to  hear 
evidence  and  pass  judgment  upon  him  who  had  come  'to  be  their 
king.  True,  they  had  lost  the  power,  as  we  term  it,  of  life  and 
death,  and  might  not  proceed  to  the  crucifixion  till  they  had  ob- 
tained the  assent  of  Pilate.  But  although  their  power  was  evi- 
dently languishing  it  did  not  expire  till  Titus  demolished  the  sanc- 
tuary. 

II.  Our  next  inquiry  is,  whether  from  that  period  all  authority 
did  cease  from  the  tribe  of  Judah.  If  this  shall  appear,  then  are 
we  certain  that  the  promised  Shiloh  has  come.  And  whether  in 
that  case  he  be  the  Messiah,  or  some  other  personage,  there  can 
be  but  little  doubt.  That  the  tribe  of  Judah  did  actually  lose 
all  authority  at  that  time,  and  has  never  recovered  it,  there 
cannot  be  a  question.  That  tribe  has  never  had  since  then 
any  distinct  existence.  No  descendant  of  Abraham  will  now 
pretend  to  tell  you  to  which  tribe  he  belongs.  He  may  assure 
you  that  when  the  Messiah  comes  he  will  restore  them  to  their  re- 
spective tribes,  but  til  then  they  remain  by  their  own  confession 
an  undistinguished  mass  of  Israelites.  And  there  is  no  sceptre 
or  law-giver  among  them.  This  will  be  acknowledged  by  every 
man  who  has  any  common  acquaintance  with  history. 

Their  condition  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  all  that  can  be  termed 
rule  or  authority.  They  are  scattered  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth  ;  have  scarcely  any  of  them  a  fixed  habitation,  and  none  of 
them  the  least  shade  of  authority.  There  is  hardly  a  kingdom  in 


334  THE    INDEX   SURE. 

the  world,  where  they  have  not  been  excluded,  not  merely  from 
any  share  in  the  national  government,  but  even  from  the  com- 
mon rights  of  citizenship. 

The  woes  that  Moses  predicted,  have  fallen  upon  them,  and  they 
are  cursed  in  the  city  and  cursed  in  the  field ;  cursed  in  their  bas- 
ket and  in  their  store  ;  cursed  in  their  children  and  in  the  fruit  of 
their  land ;  cursed  when  they  go  out  and  when  they  come  in  ;  and 
in  all  that  they  set  their  hand  unto  for  to  do. 

They  have  planted  vineyards,  and  another  has  gathered  the 
grapes.  They  have  become. an  astonishment,  a  proverb,  and  a  by- 
word. They  have  served  their  enemies  in  hunger,  and  thirst,  and 
nakedness,  and  have  worn  upon  their  neck  a  yoke  of  iron.  They 
have  sodden  and  subsisted  upon  their  own  children.  Their  plagues 
and  their  sicknesses  have  been  sore  and  wonderful.  The  Lord 
has  seemed  to  rejoice  over  them  to  destroy  them,  and  bring  them 
to  naught,  and  scatter  them  among  all  nations.  They  have  found 
no  rest  to  the  sole  of  their  foot ;  have  had  a  trembling  heart,  and 
failing  eyes*,  and  sorrow  of  mind.  They  have  been  in  fear  day  and 
night,  and  have  been  sold  to  their  enemies  for  bondmen  and  bond- 
women, till  none  would  buy  them.  Precisely  this  has  been  their 
condition  more  than  two  thousand  years.  If  Moses  had  written 
their  history  yesterday,  instead  of  two-and-thirty  hundred  years 
ago,  it  had  hardly  been  possible  to  pen  it  more  correctly.  "Hence 
we  need  offer  no  arguments  to  prove  that  the  law-giver  and  the 
sceptre  departed  from  Judah  at  the  time  predicted. 

Whatever  pretence  that  wretched  people  may  make,  that  some- 
where, no  one  knows  where,  there  is  yet  in  that  tribe  the  badge  of 
power,  and  the  right  of  legislation ;  no  man  of  common  under- 
standing, and  not  blinded  to  the  last  degree,  will  listen  for  a  mo- 
ment to  such  desperate  arguments  in  support  of  their  obstinacy 
and  their  unbelief. 

III.  It  remains  that  we  inquire  whether  he  who  came,  at  the 
time  when  the  Jews  expected  their  Shiloh,  has  exhibited  the  sign 
given  of  him  in  the  text :  "Unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  peo- 
ple be."  By  some  this  clause  is  made  to  mean,  him  shall  the  peo- 
ple obey,  or  to  him  shall  the  people  hearken,  and  again,  to  him 
shall  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  be  subject.  Hence  Christ  is 
styled  in  Haggai,  the  desire  of  all  nations.  Now  you  remem- 
ber that  in  the  original  promise  made  to  Abraham,  it  was  said, 
that  in  his  seed,  by  which  is  meant  the  Redeemer,  shall  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  Hence  the  Shiloh  men- 


THE    INDEX   SURE.  335 

tioned  in  the  text,  is  he  whom  the.  Gentiles  shall  seek,  whose 
instruction  they  shall  receive,  whose  precepts  they  shall  obey,  to 
whom  they  shall  be  subject,  in  whom  they  shall  be  blessed,  and  to 
whom  they  shall  be  gathered.  All  this  must  appear  in  him  who 
shall  answer  the  description  given  in  the  text  of  Shiloh. 

We  remember  that  very  early  in  the  gospel  history,  while  yet 
salvation  was  scarcely  offered  to  any  but  the  Jews,  the  Gentiles 
seemed  more  ready  than  they  to  become  his  disciples.  It  is  true 
that  a  few  Churches  were  very  early  gathered  among  the  Jews, 
but  the  principal  success  of  the  gospel  was  among  the  Gentiles. 
The  dispersion  that  took  place  on  the  death  of  Stephen,  seconded 
by  the  conversion  of  Cornelius,  soon  showed  the  world  that 
the  Jews  had  ceased  to  be  God's  people  j  and  that  in  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  of  him. 
Soon  Churches  were  established  in  many  places  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  from  that  day  to  this  the  gospel  has  been  making  its 
way  through  the  nations,  and  the  people  have  been  gathered  to  the 
Lord  Jesus. 

Now  here  lies  the  proof  of  his  Messiahship,  that  the  religion  he 
taught,  and  the  means  he  used  to  propagate  it,  should  gather  him 
disciples  so  rapidly  arid  so  extensively.  And  had  there  been  no 
other  proof  that  he  was  the  predicted  Shiloh,  this  one  should  have 
been  sufficient  long  since  to  convince  the  Jews  that  he  whom  they 
still  expect,  has  come.  On  the  supposition  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  was  not  the  promised  Messiah,  and  of  course  that  no  Divine 
power  gives  efficacy  to  his  gospel,  nothing  can  be  more  surprising 
than  the  promptness  with  which  he  gathers  disciples.  And  this 
was  the  very  sign  given,  "  to  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  peo- 
ple be."  Now  if  any  Jews  or  Gentiles  are  not  prepared  to  receive 
him  in  the  character  of  their  Redeemer,  they  must  account  for  the 
success  of  his  gospel.  It  was  never  propagated  with  the  sword  ; 
it  asks  no  support  from  human  power  and  human  law,  but  has 
made  its  silent  way  in  direct  opposition  to  the  powers  of  earth  a.nd 
hell. 

The  very  nature  of  the  religion  of  Christ  renders  its  propaga- 
tion a  proof  of  his  Messiahship.  It  can  adopt  no  system  of  com- 
promise with  any  other  religion.  It  must  be  either  rejected,  or 
adopted  as  the  only  one  that  can  bring  men  to  happiness  and  God. 
The  Savior  is  not  to  be  worshipped  in  conjunction  with  Jupiter, 
and  Moloch,  and  Diana.  He  must  have  the  supreme  regard,  and 
every  idol  must  be  abandoned.  Hence  his  religion,  when  it  began 
its  course,  was  at  war  with  every  other,  in  every  town  or  city 


336  THE    INDEX    SURE. 

xvhere  it  was  attempted  to  be  propagated,  and  the  smallest  success 
in  these  circumstances  must  have  been  a  demonstration  that  its 
author  was  Divine. 

And  what  is  more,  the  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  found 
the  bitterest  enmity  in  every  heart  it  attempted  to  subdue.  It  de- 
manded on  its  first  presentation  at  the  door  of  him  it  would  redeem, 
that  he  be  radically  changed,  that  he  love  what  he  hated  and  hate 
what  he  loved.  Hence  our  Lord  would  not  deceive  his  disciples, 
but  told  them  that  he  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword.  Still 
with  just  such  a  religion  as  this,  the  Lord  Jesus  gathered  disciples, 
and  continues  to  gather  them,  while  every  native  passion  of  the 
soul  is  at  war  with  the  Savior,  and  the  doctrines  it  is  invited  to  em- 
brace. 

The  character  of  the  Savior,  when  presented  to  the  people  that 
were  to  be  gathered  to  him,  was  awfully  forbidding.  Aside  from 
the  consideration  that  he  was  the  enemy  of  all  sin  and  they  totally 
depraved  ;  his  humble  ingress,  the  meanness  of  his  parentage  and 
his  birth,  and  the  ignominy  of  his  crucifixion,  all  tended  to  render 
it  wholly  improbable  that  he  should  ever  gain  adherents,  and  still 
men  of  the  most  towering  views  became  his  disciples,  even  some 
of  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim. 

And  what  seemed  an  insurmountable  barrier,  he  chose  as  the 
instruments  who  should  propagate  his  gospel,  men  from  the  lowest 
walks  of  life,  fishermen  and  tent-makers.  These  were  to  go  and 
plead  his  name  before  kings  and  emperors.  Still  under  all  these 
embarrassments  the  people  were  gathered  to  him,  and  his  religion 
spread  throughout  the  civilized  world.  How  then  could  the  Jews, 
or  how  can  the  unbelievers  in  the  present  day,  doubt  that  Jesus 
was  the  promised  Shiloh,  and  that  his  own  almighty  power  gave 
efficacy  to  his  gospel  1 

And  when  we  consider  again  the  state  of  the  world,  how  exactly 
the  opposite  of  that  religion,  unbelief  is  put  to  still  deeper  confusion. 
We  can  hardly  read  without  a  blush,  the  account  that  Paul  gives 
us  of  the  state  of  morals  anterior  to  the  gospel,  among  the  very 
men  to  whom  it  was  published.  I  will  read  you  a  part  of  that  de- 
scription. He  says,  "  Men  were  filjed  with  all  unrighteousness." 
(Rom.  i.  29-32.)  Now  it  was  among  just  such  beings  as  these 
that  the  gospel  had  to  make  its  way.  Such  were  the  people  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  would  gather  to  him,  or  if  he  failed,  did  not 
claim  to  be  owned  as  the  promised  Shiloh.  We  are  all  ready 
to  say  that  the  Jews  had  no  excuse  for  rejecting  their  Mes- 
siah. But  let  us  not  forget  that  the  light  which  thus  poured  upon 


THE    INDEX   SURE.  337 

the  page  of  prophecy,  and  pointed  out  to  the  Jews  their  Shiloh  so 
distinctly  that  we  wonder  at  their  unbelief,  is  still  increasing.  The 
council  that  condemned  him,  and  the  man  who  betrayed  him,  and 
the  multitude  who  exulted  in  his  agonies,  had  less  evidence  that 
he  was  the  Son  of  God  than  we  have,  and  had  a  better  excuse  for 
their  unbelief  than  we.  They  had  sufficient  light  to  condemn 
them,  but  we  have  still  more.  They  saw  his  gospel  have  some 
success,  and  were  under  obligation  to  believe  ;  we  see  it  operating 
on  almost  all  nations,  and  are  under  still  increased  obligation  to 
embrace  and  love  him.  We  all  join  to  condemn  the  Jews  fos  their 
unbelief,  but  it  would  not  be  wonderful  if  we  perish  under  a  more 
aggravated  condemnation. 


SERMON    XXIX. 
THE  INDEX  SURE.— No.   II. 

GENESIS   XLIX.    10. 

The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh 
come ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be. 

WE  can  conceive  of  few  things  in  the  creation  in  which  there 
is  more  of  the  sublime,  than  in  a  prediction  like  this,  given  seve- 
ral thousand  years  since,  and  recorded  for  the  successive  genera- 
tions to  read,  while  they  witness  its  fulfillment.  There  is  seen  in 
such  an  object,  concentrated  all  that  wisdom  and  power  that  built 
the  universe.  He  who  can  predict  what  shall  be,  must  know,  as 
is  said  of  God,  "  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  from  ancient 
times  the  things  that  are  not."  And  to  foretell  with  certainty  he 
must  have  power  to  bring  to  pass.  It  involves,  too,  a  Divine  pur- 
pose, by  which  all  the  events  that  are  future  are  made  certain. 
Under  a  government  where  things  were  left  to  the  control  of 
chance,  or. accident,  there  could  be  no  such  certainty,  even  if  we 
suppose  the  existence  of  a  mind  that  can  foresee  the  most  distant 
tracts  of  time.  Hence,  to  contemplate  a  subject  like  this,  gives 
to  the  mind  a  sublimity  of  elevation,  and  tends  to  fill  it  with  ador- 
ing thoughts  of  the  Creator.  And  still  it  feels  its  own  littleness  ; 
for  where  there  is  so  much  of  God,  all  beside  is  insignificant  and 
worthless.  And  there  are  no  contemplations  more  calculated  to 
soothe  and  comfort  the  believing  mind.  He  who  can  know  and 
predict  all  the  events  that  will  happen,  can  provide  for  his  people 
in  all  the  emergencies  into  which  they  may  be  brought. 

In  illustrating  the  text,  in  the  former  discourse,  it  was  my  de- 
sign, first,  to  explain  the  terms ;  secondly,  to  show  that  there  did 
continue  a  sceptre  and  a  law-giver  in  the  tribe  of  Judah  down  to 
the  advent  of  the  Redeemer  j  thirdly,  to  show  that  from  and  after 
that  time  there  did  cease  all  authority  and  power  in  that  branch 
of  the  house  of  Israel ;  and,  finally,  that  to  the  Lord  Jesus  the 
people  have  been  gathered,  as  it  was  predicted  they  should  be,  to 
the  promised  Shiloh.  What  remains  now  is,  that  we  make  some 
practical  use  of  the  whole.  I  would  then 


THE   INDEX    SURE.  339 

REMARK, 

1.  The  subject  will  lead  us  to  admire  the  Divine  conduct.  Where 
he  requires  faith,  there  he  accumulates  evidence  in  such  profusion, 
that  every  mind  not  decidedly  hostile  to  truth,  must  yield  its  as- 
sent. He  had  promised  the  world  that  he  would  send  them  a  Re- 
deemer ;  hence,  when  that  Redeemer  should  come,  he  would  re- 
quire all  to  receive  him,  and  that  their  faith  might  not  want  for 
evidence,  he  poured  in  upon  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  the  concen- 
trated light  of  a  thousand  ages.  And  it  ought  to  cover  the  unbe- 
liever with  shame  to  know  that  such  was  the  precision  with  which 
he  was  designated,  that  even  devils  know  him.  The  first  promise 
was,  that  he  should  be  the  seed  of  the  woman.  And  at  that  time 
it  would  have  been  of  no  use  to  have  made  the  promise  more  defi- 
nite. At  the  time  of  the  deluge  it  was  rendered  certain,  without 
any  specific  promise,  that  the  Savior  must  be  of  the  family  of 
Noah.  But  his  family  soon  became  so  numerous,  that  the  believer 
could  not  know  where  to  look  for  the  promised  seed.  He  might 
be  born  near  the  spot  where  the  ark  rested,  or  in  some  far-distant 
isle  of  the  ocean.  Hence,  God  jnade  choice  of  Abraham,  and 
gave  him  the  promise  that  in  his  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
should  be  blessed  ;  and  directed  him  to  go  to  that  land,  where  he 
would  still  farther  limit  the  line  of  descent,  and  where  the  Savior 
should  himself  be  born.  When  Ishmael  was  born,  Abraham  doubt- 
Jess  supposed  that  he  was  the  promised  heir,  and  he  and  the  world 
might  have  looked  for  the  Savior  in  his  family,  had  not  God 
given  him  another  son,  and  promised  that  in  Isaac  should  his  seed 
be  called.  In  his  family  again  the  promise  was  confirmed  to  Ja- 
cob, and  in  his  to  Judah,  and  in  his  to  David.  This  was  -the  last 
limitation  as  to  the  line  of  descent,  and  the  time  of  the  promise 
was  now  so  nigh  that  no  farther  designation  was  necessary.  Here, 
then,  we  see  pointed  out  very  distinctly  the  family  in  which  the 
Messiah  should  be  born. 

As  to  the  time,  it  was  to  be,  according  to  the  prediction  record- 
ed in  Daniel,  four  hundred  and  ninety  years  from  the  going  forth 
of  the  commandment  to  restore  and  build  Jerusalem.  It  was  to 
be  while  yet  there  was  a  sceptre  and  a  law-giver  in  Judah.* 

*  The  time  of  his  coining  was  still  farther  designated  by  the  appearance  of 
John  the  Baptist :  "  Behold,"  said  the  last  but  one  of  the  prophets,  in  the  very 
last  words  he  uttered,  "  Behold,  I  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet,  before  the  com- 
ing of  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord.  And  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of 
the  fathers  to  their  children,  and  the  heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers,  lest  I 
come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a  curse."  And  God  himself  assures  us  that  this 


340         .  THE    INDEX    SURE. 

As  to  the  land  of  his  nativity,  this  was  marked  out  and  conse- 
crated to  the  Lord  ages  beforehand,  in  the  communications 
made  to  Abraham.  But  lest  the  extent  of  Canaan  should 
still  cast  a  cloud  upon  the  promise,  the  very  town  was  named  in 
which  he  should  be  born  :  "  Thou  Bethlehem,  Ephratah,  though 
thou  be  little  among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall 
he  come  forth  unto  us  that  is  to  rule  in  Israel ;  whose  goings  forth 
have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting." 

That  still  there  might  be  no  room  for  mistake,  the  angels  came 
from  heaven  to  tell  the  shepherds  that  he  was  born,  and  to  guide 
them  to  his  humble  lodgement.  To  the  wise  men  of  the  east  there 
appeared  a  star  that  moved  before  them,  and  came  and  stood  over 
the  place  where  the  young  child  lay.  Even  the  Roman  emperor  must 
be  induced  at  that  juncture  to  make  a  decree  that  all  the  world  should 
be  taxed,  that  that  decree  might  operate  to  bring  the  blessed  Mary 
from  Nazareth  to  Bethlehem,  previously  to  the  birth  of  the  Savior. 
Thus  wonderfully  minute  were  the  pointings  of  Heaven  to  the 
infant  Redeemer. 

And  those  who  had  not  opportunity  to  visit  his  manger,  might 
open  the  pages  of  prophecy  and  read  there  his  character  and  his 
history,  and  rest  assured  that  he  who  was  reported  to  have  been 
born  in  Bethlehem  was  indeed  the  promised  Shiloh.  He  was  to 
be  peculiarly  a  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief :  des- 
pised and  rejected  of  men.  He  was  to  bear  our  griefs,  and  carry 
our  sorrows  ;  was  to  be  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  and  bruis- 
ed for  our  iniquities.  When  oppressed  and  afflicted  he  was  not  to 
open  his  mouth.  Men  were  to  cast  lots  for  his  vesture.  He  was 
to  hang  on  a  tree,  but  not  a  bone  of  him  was  to  be  broken.  He 
was  to  make  his  grave  with  the  wicked  and  with  the  rich  in  his 
death.  It  was  even  predicted,  that  men  should  buy  the  potter's 
field  with  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  the  price  at  which  he  was 
valued.  After  all  this  minuteness  of  prediction,  how  impossible 
does  it  seem  that  any  one  should  doubt  whether  he  was  the 
promised  Messiah.  And  how  must  we  admire  the  Divine  conduct 
and  goodness  in  thus  giving  us  many  signs,  when,  if  he  had  given 
us  but  one,  he  might  have  condemned  us  if  we  had  not  believed. 
It  would  seem  that  it  must  have  been  the  purpose  of  God,  that  no 

promise  of  Elias  met  its  fulfilment  in  John."  Thus,  lest  the  precise  time  should 
not  be  recollected,  one  was  sent  before  him,  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "  Prepare 
ye  the  way  of  the  Lord ;  make  his  paths  straight."  From  the  multitudes  that 
came  to  hear  him,  it  becomes  certain  that  John  must  have  given  a  very  extend- 
ed notice  that  the  Messiah  was  at  hand. 


THE    INDEX   SURE.  341 

nation  or  individual  then  or  since,  should  be  able  to  resist  the 
flood  of  light  that  then  poured  in  upon  the  Savior  of  the  world,  in 
every  inch  of  his  way  from  the  manger  to  the  tomb.  Had  his 
name  been  written  the  instant  he  appeared,  on  the  disk  of  every 
star  ;  had  the  finger  of  a  man's  hand  appeared  instantly  in  every 
quarter  of  the  heavens,  pointing  to  the  immortalized  manger  ;  or 
had  a  voice  said  in  every  ear  all  that  was  told  the  watchful  shep- 
herds, the  evidence  of  the  ingress  of  the  son  of  God  would  hardly 
have  been  more  complete. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all  these  intimations  respecting  the 
coming  Redeemer,  had  been  written  in  a  book,  and  lodged  in 
the  temple  of  God,  and  read  in  the  synagogues  throughout  all 
the  holy  land,  every  Sabbath  day  for  many  hundred  years  ;  and  we 
can  hardly  believe  that  the  report  had  not  penetrated  into  every 
section  of  the  globe,  where  there  was  a  sinner  to  need  an  interest 
in  the  Redeemer's  blood. 

2.  How  provoking  must  it  be  to  God,  when,  after  all  this,  men 
reject  his  Son.  To  all  who  lived  in  Palestine,  all  will  agree  that 
the  sin  of  unbelief  was  enormous.  They  were  in  the  very  spot 
where  all  this  light  concentrated.  They  had  read  the  prophecies — 
had  seen  the  signs — had  beheld  the  events  of  Providence  shaping 
themselves  to  his  approach,  and  probably  found  it  impossible  not 
to  know  that  the  set  time  was  come.  Hence  on  them  we  should 
expect  that  there  would  fall  a  peculiar  condemnation.  And  on 
them  it  did  fall,  and  has  rested  on  their  children's  children  down 
to  this  very  hour.  The  land  itself  has  been  given  to  desolation, 
and  has  withered  under  the  curse  ever  since.  It  has  become  a 
hissing,  a  by-word,  and  a  proverb.  Its  hills  have  lost  their  fertility, 
its  fountains  have  been  polluted,  and  its  "vines  have  withered. 

But  if  we  suppose  that  none  are  guilty  for  rejecting  the  Savior 
but  the  Jews,  we  are  as  blind  as  they.  There  did  shine,  it  is  true, 
upon  that  generation  who  rejected  him,  a  peculiar  light,  but  the 
present  generation  of  that  people  have  far  less  light  than  the  im- 
penitent of  this  age,  and  are  less  guilty.  When  they  contemptu- 
ously spit  upon  the  ground  at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Jesus, 
they  despise  an  unknown  Redeemer,  in  imitation  of  the  impiety 
of  their  ancestors.  They  are  virtually  heathen,  and  many  of  them 
have  no  more  idea  of  God,  or  a  futurity,  than  the  idolaters  of  inte- 
rior India.  But  the  Bible  and  a  preached  gospel  have  poured 
upon  every  Christian  land  all  the  light  that  shone  upon  Judea,  and 
more  still.  We  have  more  convincing  light  than  Herod  had,  that 
the  Savior  was  born  in  Bethlehem  during  his  reign  ;  and  more  than 


34<2  THE    INDEX   SURE. 

Judas  had  that  he  whom  Judas  betrayed  was  the  Son  of  God  ;  ana 
more  than  Pilate  had,  that  he  whom  Pilate  condemned  will  one  day  be 
Pilate's  judge.  In  addition  to  the  light  they  had,  we  have  seen  the 
gospel  conquering  the  world  in  his  name.  We  have  seen  the  sturdi- 
est ruffians  bowed  and  tamed  at  his  feet.  We  have  seen  accomplish- 
ed many  a  prediction  that  he  uttered,  many  a  wo  that  he  issued,  many 
a  curse  that  he  threatened,  and  many  a  promise  that  dropped  from  his 
lips.  Luminous  as  was  the  light  that  gathered  about  the  Babe  of  Beth- 
lehem, there  have  been  pouring  in  ten  thousand  other  streams  ever 
since.  Hence  let  no  sinner  conceive,  that  although  it  be  nineteen 
centuries  since  the  Savior  died,  there-  can  be  for  him  any  escape 
from  death  unless  he  be  washed  in  a  Savior's  blood.  If  he  who  drove 
the  nails  was  cursed  if  he  did  not  believe,  he  who  now  crucifies 
him  afresh,  and  puts  him  to  open  shame,  will  meet  a  curse  no 
lighter.  No,  it  remains  still  a  crime  black  as  perdition  to  bar  the 
avenues  of  the  heart  against  the  faith  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  There 
is  not  a  man  to-day  in  Christendom,  nor  a  lad,  nor  a  child,  that  has 
learned  who  the  Redeemer  is,  if  he  reject  him  to-day,  who  will  not 
carry  home  with  him  guilt  enough,  if  he  dies  unpardoned,  to  make 
him  gnash  his  teeth  for  ever.  Had  no  Savior  been  offered,  you 
would  only  have  had  to  answer  for  a  broken  law,  but  as  many  of 
you  as  are  unsanctified  have  upon  you  the  guilt  and  the  curse  of 
having  slighted  ten  thousand  overtures  of  forgiveness.  And  if 
you  dare  to  die  in  this  condition,  you  can  make  the  sad  experiment, 
but  your  grave  will  prove  an  avenue  to  the  bottomless  pit. 

3.  In  view  of  this  subject  it  seems  no  light  matter  to  deny  the 
Deity  of  the  Son  of  God.  How  fearfully  were  the  Jews  destroyed 
because  they  would  not  recognize  him  as  the  promised  Shiloh. 
When  once  the  edict  had*gone  out,  "  Let  all  the  angels  of  God 
worship  him,"  and  God  will  not.  give  his  glory  to  another,  the  be- 
ing that  will  not  obey  must  perish.  He  is  either  God  or  a  crea- 
ture. But  have  we  credulity  enough  to  believe  that  there  would 
have  been  all  this  display  of  prophecy  and  miracle,  pointing  to  the 
birth  of  a  worm  1  Must  he  be  promised  and  proclaimed  many 
thousand  years ;  must  there  be  a  record  made  of  his  character 
while  yet  he  has  none  1  Must  he  make  his  ingress  in  the  centre 
of  the  world,  and  in  the  most  luminous  spot  among  the  nations  1 
Must  a  long  train  of  prophets  vie  with  each  other  in  doing  honor 
to  the  mysterious  personage  ;  and  when  he  is  born,  be  but  the  be- 
ing of  a  day  1  We  have  heard  of 

"  Ocean  into  tempest  wrought, 
To  waft  a  feather — or  to  drown  a  fly," 


THE    INDEX    SURE.  343 

but  there  are  few  who  will  impute  to  God  such  folly.  But  how 
like  this  must  appear,  to  him  who  believes  the  Messiah  was  a  mere 
creature — all  that  train  of  prophecies,  that  hyperbole  of  language, 
and  that  pomp  of  figure  that  centred  in  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem  1 
Judas,  it  seems,  had  he  been  appointed  to  the  work,  would  have 
been  as  good  and  as  glorious  a  Redeemer  as  Jesus  ;  and  still  his  ad- 
vent must  be  predicted  it  seems  four  thousand  years  before  his  birth, 
and  heaven  must  tell  all  the  generations  between  that  he  is  coming, 
and  they  must  think  of  him  in  their  loftiest  thoughts,  and  speak 
of  him  as  heaven  does  in  their  sublimest  language  ;  must  calcu- 
late to  owe  to  him  their  whole  redemption,  and  still  he  has  not 
power  when  he  has  laid  down  his  life  to  take  it  up  again.  He  in- 
debted to  another  for  his  own  existence,  but  we  must  trust  in  him 
for  eternal  life  ;  he  our  shield,  and  still  he  has  no  power  of  his  own 
to  protect ;  he  our  guide,  but  another  must  enlighten  and  guide 
him  ;  he  our  intercessor,  and  still  he  cannot  know  when  we  pray ; 
he  our  king,  and  still  he  himself  the  subject  of  a  higher  and  a 
mightier  power  ;  he  pledged  to  be  with  his  people  always,  even 
unto  the  ends  of  the  world,  while  yet  he  could  not  know  that  he 
should  be  permitted  to  see  them  when  they  suffer,  or  be  present  to 
save. 

If  there  is  a  scheme,  which,  rather  than  any  other,  charges  God 
foolishly,  makes  the  plainest  truth  a  mystery,  and  the  whole  Bible 
a  bundle  of  absurdities,  and  proudly  conducts  all  its  votaries  to 
death,  it  is  that  which  thus  quenches  the  light  of  Israel.  Must  I 
choose  between  it  and  open  infidelity,  I  would  be  an  infidel.  By 
the  same  dash  with  which  I  blot  the  name  of  the  Redeemer,  I 
would  obliterate  the  Father,  and  believe  the  grave  the  end  of  me. 
I  would  not  waste  my  time  and  strength,  and  torture  my  con- 
science, to  mutilate  the  Book  of  God,  but  would  believe  the  whole 
a  lie,  and  warm  myself  in  its  blaze,  and  wish  I  were  a  brute.  Then 
I  would  calmly  expect  one  day  to  be  a  supper  for  the  worms,  free 
from  the  dread  of  the  worm  that  shall  never  die.  Men  must  be 
desperately  the  foes  of  truth,  and  inveterately  hostile  to  the  Lord 
Jesus,  before  they  can  thus  rudely  confront  the  plainest  truths  of 
God;  and  the  crime,  where  there  is  not  gross  ignorance,  must 
come  very  near  to  that  which  cannot  be  forgiven.  To  avoid  one 
mystery  which  they  cannot  comprehend,  they  would  throw  afloat 
the  faith  of  the  gospel,  make  us  doubt  whether  any  part  of  it  has 
come  to  us  uncorrupted,  and  finally  must  adopt  mysteries  greater 
than  the  one  they  discard,  must  believe  that  God  has  indited  us  a 
revelation  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  understand,  and  that  he 


344  THE    INDEX   SURE. 

has  suffered  almost  his  whole  Church  to  live  in  the  belief  of  a  lie 
these  eighteen  hundred  years. 

4.  This  subject  should  lead  us  to  pray  earnestly  for  the  unhappy 
descendants  of  Abraham.  We  are  indebted  to  them,  under  God, 
for  the  privileges  we  enjoy,  but  which  they  have  forfeited.  The 
Lord  Jesus,  in  his  human  nature,  belonged  to  that  family.  The 
apostles,  through  whom  we  have  the  Scriptures,  and  the  know- 
ledge of  eternal  life,  were  Jewish  converts.  But  how  distressing 
to  us,  that  that  whole  community  should  still  reject  their  promised 
Shiloh,  and  be  seen  writhing  these  two  thousand  years  under  the 
lashes  of  a  vindictive  Providence  !  It  should  excite  our  pity  to 
know  that  they  are  a  standing  testimony  of  the  truth  of  prophecy. 
They  are  placed  as  a  beacon  on  the  shore  of  death  to  warn  us  not 
to  approach  the  strand  where  they  were  so  awfully  shipwrecked. 
Their  unbelief  has  confirmed  us  in  the  faith,  and  it  should  be  our 
grief  that  they  should  perish.  When  the  time  has  come,  and  it 
seems  now  at  hand,  when  they  shall  own  him  that  has  come,  their 
conversion  shall  be  as  life  from  the  dead  to  the  Gentiles. 

Hence  gratitude  for  the  blessings  we  have  received  through 
their  hands?  and  love  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  which  will  be 
greatly  advanced  by  their  in-gathering,  and  pity  for  the  suffering 
posterity  of  him  who  was  the  father  of  the  faithful,  should  all  join 
their  influence  to  induce  us  to  pray  for  a  people  so  interesting  and 
so  undone.  Every  endearing  view  we  have  of  Christ  should  lead 
us  to  pray  for  his  brethren  and  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  ; 
and  whenever  we  see  by  faith  the  scenes  of  Calvary,  there  should 
go  up  some  petition  for  the  descendants  of  those  who  were  active 
in  the  crucifixion,  and  coveted  that  the  blood  of  the  Savior  should 
be  on  them  and  their  children.  On  that  propitiatory  sacrifice 
we  hang  our  hopes  of  heaven,  and  should  rejoice  can  we  be  the 
means  of  bringing  down  upon  the  descendants  of  his  betrayers  and 
murderers,  any  heavenly  blessings,  or  of  removing  the  curse  under 
which  they  have  so  long  pined  and  perished. 

And  if  their  case  should  demand  something  more  than  prayers 
—should  require  sacrifices — can  we  better  expend  the  talents  that 
God  has  loaned  us  than  in  the  purchase  of  their  redemption  1  It 
is  high  time  that  we  placed  in  their  hands  the  Hebrew  Testament, 
that  they  may  know  the  character  of  the  Savior  they  have  re- 
jected, and  may  see  and  lament  the  cause  of  their  long-continued 
dispersion.  Gratitude  for  the  gift  of  a  Savior  through  the  line  of 
Abraham,  and  for  the  Holy  Scriptures  through  Jewish  Apostles, 
should  urge  us  to  make  exertions  for  their  rescue  from  the  thral- 


THE    INDEX    SURE.  34-5 

dom  of  unbelief.  They  would  join  us  in  adoring  the  Savior,  and 
rejoice  with  us  in  the  covenants  of  promise,  and  we  could  feel 
pleasure  for  ever,  in  having  contributed  to  rescue  them  from  the 
dominions  of  death. 

Happily  the  time  has  come,  when  they  begin  to  doubt  whether 
they  may  not  look  for  their  Shiloh  till  their  eyes  consume  away 
in  their  holes,  unless  they  build  their  hopes  of  eternal  life  on 
him  who  has  come.  Numbers  of  them  have  made  their  escape 
from  death,  and  others  are  inquiring  with  a  candor  and  a  docility, 
as  new  as  it  is  interesting,  "  Where  is  the  angel  of  the  covenant  V 

FINALLY,  may  we  not  fear,  that  if  we  reject  the  Savior,  there 
may  be  found  in  our  families  a  race  of  unbelievers,  that  may  go, 
generation  after  generation,  down  to  the  blackness  of  darkness 
for  ever  1  How  can  we  know  that  some  families  that  we  can  name, 
in  wjiom  we  see  not  a  believer  from  age  to  age,  have  inherited 
from  some  ungodly  ancestor,  a  ruin  like  that  which  fell  upon  the 
family  of  Israel  1  Poverty,  and  crime,  and  degradation,  are  the 
prominent  features  of  their  condition.  Ah,  let  us  beware,  lest  our 
children's  children  shall  be  telling  the  world,  some  hundred  years 
hence,  the  tale  of  our  unbelief  and  impenitence. 


44, 


SERMON    XXX. 

THE  WISE  MAJNf  WISE  FOR  FUTURITY. 

DEUTERONOMY,  XXXII.  29. 
O  that  they  were  wise,  that  they  understood  this,  that  they  would  consider  their  latter  end. 

• 

MOSES  had  been  speaking  of  the  kindness  of  God  to  his  people. 
He  found  them  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  a  waste  howling  wilder- 
ness. He  led  them  about,  he  instructed  them,  he  kept  them  as 
the  apple  of  his  eye.  By  a  spirit  of  prophecy  he  looked  forward, 
and  saw  them  enter  in  triumph  the  land  of  promise,  there  to  eat 
of  the  increase  of  the  field,  to  suck  honey  out  of  the  rock,  and 
drink  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape.  And  here  he  would  gladly 
have  limited  his  prophetic  view,  and  would  have  died  believing 
that  the  people  he  loved,  would  remain  the  heirs  of  that  goodly 
land  till  the  consummation  of  all  things,  and  be  to  the  latest  ages 
the  chosen  inheritance  of  heaven.  But  the  same  prophetic  Spirit 
which  had  made  him  acquainted  with  one  future  page  of  their  his- 
tory, penetrated  the  tracts  of  time,  that  stretched  still  beyond,  and 
unfolded  to  his  inspired  vision  a  page  still  beyond,  darkened  and 
dismal  with  crimes  and  punishments.  Here  he  paused  to  lament, 
that  they  would  so  sin  against  their  own  souls,  that  they  would 
not  feel  in  time  that  they  had  to  deal  with  a  jealous  God,  who 
would  not  give  his  glory  to  another,  and  in  the  language  of  the 
text  pours  out  the  honest  and  tender  feelings  of  his  heart,  "  O  that 
they  were  wise,  that  they  understood  this,  that  they  would  con- 
sider their  latter  end."  This  would  avert  the  doom  I  foresee,  and 
secure  them  a  perpetual  title  to  the  fields  of  promise. 

But  the  text  will  bear  a  more  extended  application.  It  is  as 
true  of  us  all  as  it  was  of  Israel,  that  we  contemplate  too  little  the 
scenes  of  futurity,  and  fasten  the  eye  too  exclusively  on  the  life 
that  now  is.  This  world  is  too  much  our  home  ;  its  cares  occupy 
too  exclusively  our  attention ;  and  its  treasures  claim  too  high 
a  place  among  the  instruments  of  our  joy.  We  are  pilgrims  at 
the  best,  who  have  here  no  abiding  city,  but  seek  one  to  come, 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.  That  man  is  a  beggar  and  a 
wretch,  who  extends  not  his  views  to  another  life,  and  has  no 


THE    WISE    MAN    WISE   FOR    FUTURITY.  34-7 

% 

prospects  of  enjoyment  in  a  better  world.     The  concerns  of  this 
life  are  too  small  to  engross  the  energies  of  an  immortal  mind. 
When  I  feel  myself  allured  by  its  charms,  and  when  I  see  so  many 
of  my  poor  dying  neighbors  engrossed  exclusively  in  these  sublu- 
nary scenes,  I  feel  that  we  have  a  mean  and  poor  employment. 
And  I  have  chosen  this  text,  rather  than  many  a  one,  which,  on 
some  accounts,  would  have  been  more  appropriate,  because  I  wish 
to  warn  myself,  and  the  neighborhood  in  which  I  live,  and  the 
people  to  whom  I   minister,  and  every  stranger  who  may  be  pre- 
sent, that'  this  world  is  not   our  home,  nor  our  rest  j  that  there 
awaits  us  a  dying  bed,  and  a  lonely  grave,  and  perhaps  a  sudden 
transit  into  the  presence   of  the  holy  and  heart-searching  God. 
We  are  forming  a  character  for  another  state,  and  have  forgotten 
our  only  errand  into  life,  if  any  other  cares  crowd  us  so  closely, 
or  engross  us  so  exclusively,  as  the  one  care  of  adorning  the  soul 
for  its  speedy  appearance  at  the  banquet  of  the  Lamb.    This  is  the 
concern  that  should  direct  our  dreams,  wake  our  slumbers,  bring 
us  early  to  our  knees,  and  go  with  us  and  keep  its  hold  upon  our 
thoughts,  our  affections,  and  our  lips,  through  all  the  hours  of 
light,  through  the  social  converse  of  our  evenings,  and  the  sacred 
worship  of  our  Sabbaths.     Why  can  we  not  move  about  among 
the  cares  of  this  life,  and  still  keep  firmly  our  hold  upon  a  better  1 
If  we  think  often  of  death  we  shall  die  no  sooner,  and  if  we 
often  talk  of  the  life  to  come,  we  shall  be  called  none  the  sooner 
to  part  with  the  life  that  now  is.     If  we  mingle  the  cares  of  another 
world  with  those  of  the  present,  we  need  not  neglect  to  make  all 
necessary  provision  for  the  body.     Nor  need  these  thoughts  and 
cares  embitter  our  present  enjo.yments.     Who  has  heaven's  per- 
mission to  be  happy  but  the  believer,   the  man  whose  heavenly 
mind  can  see  a  substance,  and  taste  a  sweetness  in  the  things  un- 
seen, who  can  even  here  inhale  a  fragrance  from  the  flowers  of 
paradise,  and  realize  a  treasure  deposited  where  moth  and  rust 
cannot  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  cannot  break  through  and  steal ! 
Tell  me  not  of  men  being  happy  whose  all  is  in  the  present  life, 
and  who  are  tormented  if  they  chance  to  think  of  death ;  it  is  all 
false.     They  may  be  stupid,  and  so  is  a  worm,  but  who  ever 
dreamed  that  a  thoughtless  man  was  happy  1     He  may  be  free 
from  sensible  misery,  and  so  is  the  ox ;  but  one  who  claims  that 
he  is  a  man,  and  glories  in  being  capable  of  thought,  is  not  happy 
when  he  does  not  think.     Cast  forward  the  eye  of  faith  and  read 
the  future  pages  of  your  history,  and  if  you  cannot  read  them  and 
still  be  happy,  then  I  would  bid  joy  adieu  for  ever.     Think  of  a 


34-8  THE   WISE   MAN   WISE    FOR    FUTURITY. 

* 

death-bed,  of  the  shroud  you  shall  wear,  the  coffin  that  shall  house 
yon,  the  grave  you  shall  occupy,  the  procession  that  shall  escort 
you  to  the  bleak  and  cheerless  cemetery,  the  vacuum  that  shall 
be  seen  in  your  dwelling,  the  widow  that  shall  weep  for  you,  and 
the  children  that  shall  bury  their  best  hopes  in  your  sepulchre, 
and  return  to  weep  over  their  untimely  orphanage : — think,  too, 
where  you  shall  then  be,  in  what  world,  in  what  society,  how 
employed — and  if  you  cannot  think  it  all  over  and  be  happy,  your 
condition  is  most  pitiable.  What !  do  you  boast  of  having  the 
powers  of  thought,  and  dare  not  think !  Glad  that  you  'are  not  a 
thoughtless  beast,  and  yet  must  become  thoughtless  as  a  beast,  or 
be  miserable !  Then  your  fancied  distinctions  are  all  a  dream, 
and  can  do  you  no  honor.  My  intention  is  to  turn  your  minds 
upon  the  scene  of  death,  and  by  this  means  to  try  your  religion, 
and  my  own.  If  we  can  converse  with  the  scenes  of  death  and  be 
happy,  it  will  be  one  small  evidence  in  our  favor.  True  wisdom 
will  lead  us  to  consider  our  latter  end.  /  shall  notice  some  circum- 
stances of  our  latter  end  which  it  becomes  us  to  consider,  and  then  show 
that  to  consider  these  things  is  to  act  wisely. 

I  am  to  notice  some  circumstances  of  our  latter  end,  which  it 
becomes  us  to  consider. 

I.  Death  will  part  asunder  the  body  and  the  soul.  They  are 
dear  and  affectionate  companions,  and  are  to  each  other  a  source 
of  pleasure  and  of  pain.  There  is  between  them  an  indescribable 
power  of  endearing  sympathy.  But  in  death  they  part.  The 
body,  cold  and  inanimate,  is  thrown  upon  the  care  of  men,  while 
the  spirit  returns  to  God  who  gave  it.  What  remains  with  us  is 
the  merest  clay,  while  that  which  we  loved  and  caressed  is  gone. 
That  lifeless  body  is  not  the  son,  the  husband,  the  father,  the 
neighbor,  and  the  friend,  we  loved.  But  it  is  all  that  we  could 
ever  see  or  touch,  while  that  essential  and  immortal  part  which 
has  fled,  was  intangible  and  invisible.  This  change  you  and  I 
must  soon  pass.  This  body  must  moulder,  and  this  spirit  be  sum- 
moned away,  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  its  judge. 

To  properly  consider  this  matter  is  to  see  to  it  that  the  body 
and  the  soul,  while  they  continue  associates,  be  mutual  helpmates 
to  each  other.  The  indulgence  of  the  appetites  and  passions 
must  not  be  permitted  to  ruin  the  soul,  nor  the  mind  be  employed 
to  destroy  the  body.  They  are  to  be  reunited  in  the  resurrection, 
and  must  be  for  ever  happy  or  wretched  together.  Hence  let  the 
soul,  while  the  present  union  continues,  be  purified  by  the  blood 


THE   WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR   FUTURITY.  349 

of  sprinkling,  and  the  body  rendered  a  meet  temple  for  the  Holy 
Ghost,  that  thus  the  kindred  parts  may  exert  upon  each  other  a 
mutually  kind  and  purifying  influence.  Then  after  the  sleep  of 
the  grave,  there- may  be  a  union  more  happy  than  the  first,  more 
indissoluble  and  eternal. 

2.  Death  will  dissolve  all  our  earthly  ties.  The  various  and 
endearing  relationships  of  life  are  all  temporary.  The  husband 
and  the  wife,  whose  union  is  the  most  endearing  of  all  others, 
are  obligated  to  love  and  cherish  each  other  only  till  death.  Then 
the  tie  is  broken,  and  the  obligation  discharged.  The  lifeless 
corpse  is  no  longer  a  husband,  a  father,  a  neighbor,  a  friend. 
That  essential  part,  on  whose  account  the  relationship  was  formed, 
has  fled.  And  "  in  the  resurrection,  they  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage,  but  are"  in  this  respect,  "  as  the  angels  of  God 
in  heaven." 

To  give  this  subject  its  proper  consideration,  requires  that  we 
so  discharge  the  various  obligations  that  result  from  these  relation- 
ships, as  to  meet  their  grand  and  heavenly  design.  The  husband 
and  the  wife  should  endeavor  to  promote  each  other's  sanctifica- 
tion,  should  exert  all  the  influence  that  the  endearing  relationship 
generates,  to  produce  in  each  other  an  entire  conformity  to  God, 
and  thus  prepare  each  other  to  be  happy  in  the  circle  of  the  blessed. 
The  few  days  that  we  can  do  each  other  good,  urges  to  the  utmost 
despatch  in  every  benevolent  design.  Parents  should  admonish 
and  pray  for  their  poor  dying  children,  from  whom,  in  a  few  days, 
they  must  be  torn  for  ever,  and  children  be  a  blessing  to  their 
parents  while  they  are  within  reach  of  their  kindness.  The  bro- 
ther and  sister  sustain  that  relationship  but  for  a  few  days,  and 
must  do  each  other  all  the  good  they  ever  do,  very  soon.  The 
course,  then,  that  genuine  love  will  pursue  is  very  plain.  While 
my  friends  are  within  my  reach,  I  should  be  their  enemy  did  I 
not  endeavor  to  promote  their  salvation,  and  thus  do  them  ever- 
lasting good. 

Alas,  how  many  pursue  a  course  precisely  the  opposite,  and  are 
doing  all  in  their  power  to  carry  their  friends  with  them  down  to 
perdition  !  How  many  husbands  exert  their  influence  to  prevent 
the  piety,  and  hinder  the  prayers,  and  retard  the  spiritual  improve- 
ment of  their  bosom  friend  !  And  how  many  wives,  with  the  same 
treacherous  kindness,  allure  their  husbands  to  the  ways  of  death  ! 
Many  a  parent,  a  son,  a  brother,  deaf  themselves  to  the  voice  of 
mercy,  are  staining  their  hands  and  their  garments  in  the  blood  of 
their  kindred.  And  beyond  a  doubt  the  great  day  will  hear  many 


350  THE    WISE   MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY. 

a  curse  proceed  from  the  lips  of  the  lost,  upon  their  now  nearest, 
dearest  kindred  ! — On  this  dreadful  subject  I  can  only  say,  do 
good,  and  avoid  doing  evil,  to  those  who  are  now  related  to  you, 
as  all  their  kindred  ties  will  soon  be  dissolved,  and  these  opportu- 
nities pass  away  for  ever.  We  shall  doubtless  witness  against 
each  other  in  the  great  day,  and  it  must  grieve  us,  if  we  feel  ten- 
derly, to  apprehend  that  our  own  lips  may  bear  against  beloved 
friends  that  testimony  on  which  their  condemnation  may  be 
founded. 

3.  Death  will  strip  us  of  all  our  titles,  and  of  that  office,  power, 
and  influence  which  they  imply.  The  magistrate,  the  judge,  the 
general,  and  the  juror,  will  yield  his  office  with  his  life,  and  with 
ij  his  power  and  his  influence.  The  minister  of  the  gospel,  and 
every  officer  in  the  Christian  Church,  or  teacher  in  our  seats  of 
science,  or  the  Sabbath  school,  must  yield  his  place  to  some  suc- 
cessor. 

To  properly  consider  this  matter  is  to  fill  the  office  we  sustain 
with  purity  and  activity.  If  it  gives  us  influence,  there  is  nothing 
for  which  we  are  more  accountable  ;  no  talent  which  we  can  use 
now  to  better  advantage.  If  there  is  a  soul  brought  by  such  means 
within  our  reach,  and  we  can  bless  that  soul,  our  duty  is  plain ; 
and  our  fearful  responsibility  incalculable.  When  by  any  means 
the  providence  of  God  enlarges  our  sphere  of  action,  widens  the 
field  of  our  labor,  or  strengthens  the  arms  of  our  hands,  his  crea- 
tures are  to  receive  the  benefit,  and  his  name  is  to  have  the  praise. 

What  a  fearful  account  will  many  have  to  give,  when  they  shall 
be  put  out  of  their  stewardship !  How  have  they  filled  offices, 
that  they  might  create  misery,  and  exerted  an  influence  in  widen- 
ing and  vexing  the  horrors  of  the  apostacy  !  You  might  almost 
track  them  by  the  blood  they  spilt,  or,  to  drop  the  figure,  by  the 
vices  to  which  they  gave  an  impulse,  by  the  characters  they  pol- 
luted, by  the  poverty  and  the  tears  they  generated,  and  by  a  long 
train  of  untold  miseries  that  still  line  their  track.  "  Who  then  is 
that  faithful  and  wise  servant,  whom  his  lord  hath  made  ruler  over 
his  household,  to  give  them  meat  in  due  season  1  Blessed  is  that 
servant,  whom  his  lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find  so  doing. 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  he  shall  make  him  ruler  over  all  his 
goods.  But  and  if  that  evil  servant  shall  say  in  his  heart,  My  lord 
delayeth  his  coming ;  and  shall  begin  to  smite  his  fellow-servants, 
and  to  eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken ;  the  lord  of  that  servant, 
shall  come  in  a  day  when  he  looketh  not  for  him,  and  in  an  hour 
that  he  is  not  aware  of  $  and  shall  cut  him  asunder,  and  appoint 


THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY.  .          351 

him  his  portion  with  the  hypocrites :  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth."  Thus  the  office  we  fill  may  be  suddenly 
vacated,  and  the  account  rendered  cover  us  with  everlasting  shame. 

4.  Death  will  level  all  distinctions.     The  king  and  the  peasant 
will  sleep  together  in  the  grave,  the  master  and  the  servant,  the 
man  of  science  and  distinction  with  the  untaught  and  the  vulgar. 
The  family  who  can  hardly  speak  with  patience  of  their  unpolished 
neighbors,  and  look  with  contempt  upon  their  rude  and  illiterate 
servants,  must  become  a  supper  for  the  worm,  and  must  scent  as 
odiously,  and  rot  as  rapidly,  and  perhaps  be  forgotten  about  as 
soon  as  the  innocent  objects  of  their  affected  disgust.    There  may 
be  a  more  splendid  funeral.     We  may  hear  at  the  mouth  of  the 
tomb  a  more  labored  and   lying   panegyric ;    and  there  may  be 
erected  a  more  splendid,  and  perhaps  a  more  lasting  monument. 
But  a  few  years  will  dissolve  that  monument,  will  deface  its  pom- 
pous inscription,  and  the  bones  it  covers  will  appear  as  unsightly 
as  any  skeleton  within  the  enclosures  of  the  cemetery. 

To  properly  consider  this  fact,  is  to  remember  that  it  was  God 
who  elevated  us,  and  that  views  us  as  none  the  more  worthy  be- 
cause of  the  distinction  he  has  assigned  us.  It  is  our  wisdom  to 
bo  humble  and  mindful  of  death.  Let  us  show  the  world  that  in 
our  own  eyes  we  are  small ;  that  we  can  enter  the  cottage  of  the 
peasant  familiarly  ;  can  join  him,  if  occasion  require,  in  his  coarse 
and  homely  meal ;  can  cheerfully  bow  with  him  at  the  throne  of 
grace  ;  mingle  our  counsels  and  our  tears,  insensible  of  any  dis- 
tinction for  which  we  deserve  respect,  that  we  are  not  willing  to 
bestow.  We  are  forbidden  to  be  wise  in  our  own  conceits,  and 
are  exhorted  to  condescend  to  men  of  low  estate.  One  distinction 
only  will  outlive  the  ravages  of  death — that  distinction  is  holiness. 
In  the  sight  of  God  all  others  are  temporary  and  worthless  ;  and 
if  not  counteracted  by  the  humility  of  the  gospel,  will  cover  us 
with  a  deeper  contempt,  and  subject  us  to  a  more  degraded  infamy 
in  the  bottomless  pit. 

5.  Death  will  strip  us  of  our  earthly  possessions.     The  lifeless 
corpse  is  not  the  owner  of  a  farm,  or  the  proprietor  of  a  bond. 
He  cannot  even  defend  from  the  attack  of  the  ruffian  the  little  spot 
of  earth  that  contains  his  ashes  and  his  bones.     The  hour  that 
strips  him  of  life  renders  him  as  poor  as  at  the  hour  of  his  birth, 
and  as  dependent  for  the  shroud,  as,  originally,  for  the  swathing- 
band. 

To  properly  consider  this  matter,  is  to  use  our  wealth  for  the 
honor  of  God,  and  in  lessening  the  miseries  of  the  apostacy.  We 


35*2  THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY. 

may  employ  it  to  support  and  spread  his  gospel,  to  disseminate  his 
word,  to  feed  his  poor.  Some  object  of  benevolent  regard  is  for 
ever  at  our  door,  some  good  devised  that  we  may  execute,  some 
cause  laboring  that  we  may  lend  our  aid.  We  may  have  high 
ideas  of  our  own  rights,  but  we  are  all  the  Lord's  stewards.  He 
has  commanded  us  to  occupy  till  he  come.  We  must  very  soon 
go  out  of  office,  and  must  then  give  an  account  of  our  stewardship, 
and  happy  for  us  if  we  have  made  friends  of  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness, that  they  may  receive  us  into  everlasting  habita- 
tions. But  how  many,  when  they  shall  be  called  to  yield  their  in- 
terest, will  find  that  their  gold  and  silver  is  corrupted,  and  their 
garments  moth  eaten.  If  they  have  done  any  good  with  their 
wealth,  it  was  by  the  merest  accident :  they  meant  not  so,  neither 
did  their  hearts  think  so,  and  they  are  seen  to  repent  of  all  the 
good  they  have  done,  and  of  nothing  else.  They  have  fixed  a 
dying  hold  upon  their  farms  and  their  merchandizes,  and  the  day 
that  breaks  that  hold  will  be  of  all  other  days  the  most  wretched. 
They  have  forgotten  their  latter  end,  and  can  be  waked  from  the 
charm  only  by  that  stroke  that  sunders  them  from  life. 

6.  As  a  distinct  thought,  I  would  suggest  that  death  must  bring 
all  our  schemes  to  a  close.  There  is  in  some  men  a  proneness 
to  cast  their  thoughts  ahead,  and  so  interweave  their  projects,  that 
it  would  seem  they  can  never  find  leisure  to  lie  down  and  sleep  in 
the  grave.  They  never  calculate  upon  closing  their  concerns. 
There  is  scarce  a  moment,  from  the  beginning  of  the  year  till  it 
ends,  that  finds  them  sufficiently  at  leisureno  worship  God  with- 
out distraction.  Some  scheme  is  in  its  embryo,  and  some  other 
unfinished.  And,  finally,  many  a  one  is  but  partially  executed, 
when  death  throws  in  its  arbitrary  and  fearful  arrest.  Then  there 
must  be  a  pause  :  the  jaded  spirit  must  rest,  and  the  body  retires 
with  it.  Cheerful  or  reluctant  the  world  must  quit  its  hold,  and 
the  stream  of  thought  chill  in  its  channel. 

And  this  event  expected  should  teach  us  to  limit  our  views,  and 
to  moderate  our  hopes  and  wishes.  It  would  be  wise  to  calculate 
that  somewhere  not  very  distant  from  us,  there  is  opened  a  grave 
athwart  our  track,  where  we  must  stop  and  rest,  and  beyond  which, 
if  we  extend  our  schemes,  they  but  die  on  our  hands,  or  remain 
for  others  to  finish.  "  There  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  know- 
ledge, nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave  whither  we  hasten."  And  perhaps 
nothing  would  so  tend  to  make  us  lower  our  hopes,  and  limit  our 
worldly  calculation,  as  to  place  the  solemnities  of  our  own  funeral 
at  but  a  few  months  remove  from  us.  If  we  place  it  too  near  no 


THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY.  353 

evil  could  follow  j  while,  if  too  remotely,  a  train  of  disappoint- 
ments and  miseries  follow,  the  weight  of  which  it  will  take  a  whole 
eternity  to  calculate. 

7.  Death  will  finish  our  period  of  usefulness.     "  It  is  that  night 
when  no  man  can  work."     All  the  good  we  ever  do  must  be  soon 
done,  or  is  left  undone  for  ever.     All  the  good  counsel  we  ever 
give,  all  the  prayers  we  ever  make,  all  the  miseries  we  ever  re- 
lieve, all  the  progress  we  shall  ever  make  in  the  pursuit  of  truth, 
and  all  the  honor  we  shall  ever  do  to  God,  must  be  done  soon. 
And  it  seems  to  me  that  no  thought  is  so  calculated  to  wake  us 
to  industry.     "  Whatsoever  thy  hands  find  to  do,  do  it  with  thy 
might,"  is  the  very  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  shortness  of 
time.     If  any  man  is  a  knave,  it  is  he  who  is  willing  to  die  before 
he  has  been  useful,  who  is  willing  to  feed  upon  the  bounties  of 
heaven,  to  gather   about  him  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  to  lavish 
them  upon  his  own  indolence,  and  leave  God  to  publish  his  own 
praise  by  other  instruments.     Our  obligation  to  do  good  is  as  un- 
alienable  as  the  authority  of  God  is  binding,  or  the  fear  of  misery 
appalling,  or  the   hope  of  glory  inviting.      Have  we  then  done  all 
the  good  we  have  purposed  to  do  1     Have  we  no  dying  friends  to 
whom  we  would  communicate  instruction  or  comfort  before  they 
leave  us  1     Is  there  no  object  of  charity  to  which  conscience  may 
have  given  some  pledge  not  yet  redeemed  1     By  the  sure  and 
speedy  approach  of  death,  we  are  admonished  to  haste  and  finish 
our  work,  lest  we  should  leave  it  for  others  to  neglect  as  we  have. 

8.  Death  will  finish  our  character,  and  close  our  accounts  for  the 
judgment.     We  are  probationers  for  another  state,  and  our  char- 
acter here  will  decide  our  condition  there.     It  is  believed  that  life 
will  furnish  the  materials  on  which  the  judgment  will  proceed,  the 
varied  tests  of  our  character,  and  the  reasons  of  our  acquittal  or 
our  condemnation.     The  thoughts  and  volitions  of  the  dying  bed 
will  constitute  the  closing  items  of  that  fearful  account  which  we 
must  render  to  the  judge  of  all. 

To  give  this  thought  its  due  importance,  we  should  often  exa- 
mine our  state,  and  inquire  if  we  are  ready  to  be  judged.  Is  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  formed  in  us  the  hope  of  glory  1  Shall  we  ap- 
pear, if  we  quit  the  world  this  evening,  clothed  in-  his  righteous- 
ness '?  Else  no  works  of  ours  will  avail  to  procure  our  acceptance, 
and  ruin  is  as  certain  as  the  judgment. 

Haste,  then,  if  you  would  be  esteemed  wise,  and  set  your  house 
in  order,  against  the  hour  of  your  dissolution.  Mortify  the  deeds 
of  the  body,  wake  the  mind  to  industry,  and  rouse  the  heart  and 


354  THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY. 

the  conscience  to  energy  of  feeling  and  action  in  the  work  of 
grace.  Collect  your  friends  about  you,  and  make  one  more  effort 
to  do  them  good  before  every  tie  that  binds  them  to  you  is  sun- 
dered. Fill  the  office  assigned  you  with  fidelity,  and  use  your  in- 
fluence to  promote  the  honor  of  your  Redeemer.  Cultivate  a 
meek  and  lowly  mind  j  be  familiar  with  your  own  worthlessness  ; 
use  your  wealth  for  the  honor  of  God,and  in  doing  good  to  a  mise- 
rable world.  Limit  your  prospects  by  the  grave ;  have  your  work 
done  5  your  character  formed  for  heaven  ;  your  sins  forgiven  ;  and 
your  pollution  covered  with  a  Savior's  blood.  Then  death  will 
not  surprise  you,  and  the  grave  will  become  your  refuge  and  your 
friend. 

II.  To  properly  consider  the  circumstances  of  our  latter  end  is 
to  act  wisely.  If  while  we  proceed,  worldly  men,  whose  every 
interest  is  in  this  world,  should  draw  the  inference  that  they  are 
acting  unwisely,  and  playing  the  fool  with  their  own  best  good  ; 
this  is  precisely  the  effect  we  always  wish  to  produce,  and  shall 
rejoice  to  find  that  they  can  reason  so  well  on  a  subject  of  such 
amazing  importance.  Under  every  sermon  men  ought  to  be  con- 
vinced that  they  are  acting  a  mad  and  desperate  part,  while  they 
neglect  all  the  hopes  of  the  life  to  come,  and  deposit  all  their  trea- 
sures on  the  surface  of  this  perishing  world.  The  man  who  should 
place  all  his  fortune  in  a  burning  building,  or  embark  with  his 
whole  interest  in  a  sinking  ship,  would  not  act  more  unwisely.  I 
remark, 

1.  That  God  has  pronounced  it  wise  to  consider  our  latter  end, 
and  act  with  constant  and  careful  reference  to  the  life  to  come. 
This  is  precisely  the  sentiment  of  the  text,  and  of  many  other  scrip- 
tures which  pour  their  light  upon  the  same  truth.  "  If  a  man  live 
many  years,  and  rejoice  in  them  all,  yet  let  him  remember  the  days 
of  darkness."  Said  the  Lord  to  Israel,  "  Oh  that  thou  hadst 
hearkened  to  my  commandments !  then  had  thy  peace  been  as  a 
river,  and  thy  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea."  How  often 
is  it  said  of  the  wicked,  that  although  they  were  warned  they 
would  not  be  wise.  "  I  have  called,  and  ye  refused ;  I  have 
stretched  out  my  hand  and  no  man  regarded  ;  but  ye  have  set  at 
naught  all  my  counsel,  and  would  none  of  my  reproof;  I  also  will 
laugh  at  your  calamity ;  I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. 
When  your  fear  cometh  as  desolation,  and  your  destruction  com- 
eth as  a  whirlwind ;  when  distress  and  anguish  cometh  upon  you  : 
then  shall  they  call  upon  me,  but  I  will  not  answer  j  they  shall  seek 


THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY.  355 

me  early,  but  they  shall  not  find  me  :  For  that  they  hated  know- 
ledge, and  did  not  choose  the  fear  of  the  Lord :  they  would  none 
of  my  counsel ;  they  despised  all  my  reproof :  therefore  shall  they 
eat  of  the  fruit  of  their  own  way,  and  be  filled  with  their  own  de- 
vices. For  the  turning  away  of  the  simple  shall  slay  them,  and 
the  prosperity  of  fools  shall  destroy  them.  But  whoso  hearkeneth 
unto  me  shall  dwell  safely,  and  shall  be  quiet  from  the  fear  of  evil." 

1  know  that  we  are  forbidden  to  be  anxious  for  the  things  of  to- 
morrow, but  this  text,  instead  of  teaching  the  contrary,  teaches 
the  same  doctrine.  We  are  not  to  be  anxious  for  the  things  of 
this  life,  which  we  may  need  for  our  support  tomorrow.  We  are  to 
be  "  anxious,  not  for  the  meat  that  perisheth,  but  for  that  meat  which 
endureth  to  everlasting  life."  We  are  so  to  use  the  mammon  of 
unrighteousness,  that  when  we  are  put  out  of  our  stewardship,  we 
may  have  a  friend  who  will  receive  us  into  everlasting  habitations. 

Thus  God  himself,  who  cannot  be  mistaken,  has  declared  it  wise 
to  look  well  to  our  future  prospects,  and  "  lay  up  in  store  against 
the  time  to  come,  that  we  may  lay  hold  on  eternal  life." 

2.  The  wisdom  of  such  a  course  is  inferred  from  the  fact,  that 
in  all  other  things  we  consider  it  indispensable.  If  we  have  in 
view  any  worldy  enterprise,  we,  as  far  as  possible,  anticipate  the 
concern  in  all  its  bearings,  and  weigh,  before  we  meet  them,  every 
embarrassment  and  every  obstacle,  that  may  be  at  war  with  our 
purpose.  We  bring  before  us  the  darker  side  of  the  picture,  as 
well  as  the  brighter,  contemplate  every  passion,  and  every  interest 
with  which  we  may  come  in  contact,  and  press  the  eye  of  the  mind 
forward  to  meet  every  feature  of  the  probable  result.  Is  one 
about  to  leave  the  place  of  his  nativity,  he  does  not  move,  if  he  is 
wise,  till  he  has  carefully  surveyed  the  country  toward  which  he 
bends  his  wishes  and  his  hopes,  counts  the  cost  of  his  intended 
enterprise,  weighs  the  probable  advantages  of  the  removal,  and  is 
prepared  to  meet,  without  surprise,  every  failure  that  can  lie  with- 
in the  reach  of  probability.  Thus  worldly  men  constantly  manage 
the  concerns  of  this  life,  and  the  Scriptures  assure  us,  that  they 
are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of  light.  Would 
we  pursue  the  same  measures  relative  to  the  life  to  come,  God 
would  approve.  It  would  be  a  source  of  conduct  becoming  a  wise 
and  thinking  man.  We  should  then  look  forward  and  survey  all 
the  circumstances  of  our  departure  from  this  world,  the  state  of 
our  hearts,  the  probability  of  our  composure,  and  our  acceptance 
in  the  hour  of  death,  the  ties  that  must  then  be  broken,  the  titles 
that  must  then  be  lost,  the  office  that  must  be  resigned,  the  distinc- 


356  THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR   FUTURITY. 

tions  that  must  then  be  levelled,  the  possessions  that  must  be  relin- 
quished, the  exertions  that  must  terminate,  and  the  pause  that 
must  ensue  to  all  our  schemes.  We  should  live  with  the  whole 
scene  before  us,  and  often  summon  the  mind  to  bear,  with  all  its 
native  energies,  upon  that  most  interesting  epoch  of  our  history. 
I  knew  a  man,  who,  for  years,  kept  his  coffin  in  his  chamber,  often 
placed  himself  in  the  narrow  house,  and  often  contemplated  the 
scenes  of  his  interment,  and  thus  kept  himself  familiar  with  the 
hour  of  his  dissolution.  Now  should  we  not,  without  resorting  to 
such  means,  practice  the  same  forethought,  and  thus,  if  possible, 
have  the  terror  of  death  broken,  before  we  are  called  to  the  last 
and  desperate  contest  1  What  argument  can  be  offered  why  this 
concern  should  not  be  the  subject  of  meditation,  rather,  far  rather, 
than  the  erection  of  a  dwelling,  or  a  removal  to  some  distant 
country.  The  wise,  who  go  out  to  meet  the  bridegroom,  will  be 
careful,  not  only  that  their  lamps  are  burning,  but  that  there  is  oil 
in  their  vessels  with  their  lamps. 

3.  To  make  death  a  matter  of  previous  calculation,  is  necessary 
to  the  promotion  of  our  temporal  interest,  and  that  of  our  heirs. 
If  one  may  die  before  his  plans  are  executed,  and  is  strongly  im- 
pressed with  this  truth,  he  will  conceive  none  but  such  as  another 
can  carry  into  operation.     This  would  be  the  dictate  of  wisdom. 
He  will  hold  his  concerns  in  such  a  state  of  order  and  arrange- 
ment, that  he  can,  at  a  moment's  warning,  hand  over  his  records 
and  his  wealth,  to  be  managed  and  enjoyed  with  the  smallest  pos- 
sible embarrassment.     And  such  a  state  of  things  has  always  been 
considered  favorable  to  present  interest.     And  can  any  thought  be 
so  calculated  to  further  this  arrangement  as  the  strong  impression 
of  a  speedy  and  sudden  departure.     Let  a  man  keep  his  concerns 
in  such  a  state  that  if  death  arrest  his  course,  nothing  is  deranged, 
nothing  obscure,  nothing  neglected,  and  he  will  be  the  man  whom 
no  minor  event  can  distract  or  destroy.     If,  then,  we  would  make 
our  calculations  merely  for  the  present  life,  to  often  contemplate 
the  scenes  of  death,  would  further,  unspeakably,  this  one  interest. 
But  some  may  feel  that  this  is  an  engagement  too  sordid  to  have 
weight  on  a  point  so  momentous. 

I  observe,  then, 

4.  That  to  well  consider  our  latter  end  will  tend  to  forward  our 
preparation  for  the  scenes  of  death.     We  all,  in  a  sense,  know 
that  we  must  die  ;  but  this  truth  makes  so  little  impression,  ordi- 
narily, that  we  may  be  said  to  doubt  it.     Young  says,  "  All  men 
think  all  men  mortal  but  themselves."     Should  a  stranger  from 


THE    WISE    MAN    WISE   FOR    FUTURITY.  357 

some  world  where  they  never  die,  glance  his  eye  upon  this,  he 
would  not  have  the  most  distant  conception,  that  we  had  any  fear 
of  such  a  change.  He  would  see  us  so  managing  our  concerns, 
as  if  we  calculated  to  be  the  perpetual  proprietors  of  the  soil 
we  cultivate,  the  merchandize  we  handle,  and  the  dwellings  we  oc- 
cupy. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  thoughts  of  death  are  excluded,  -and 
consequently  all  preparation  for  that  hour  is  deferred.  We  have 
too  many  cares  to  give  death,  and  hell,  and  heaven,  and  the  judg- 
ment, any  permanent  lodgement  in  the  mind,  and  too  many  sublu- 
nary affections  to  leave  room  in  the  heart  for  more  sublime  attach- 
ments. The  course,  then,  that  wisdom  would  dictate,  is  plain. 
Let  the  mind  be  emptied  of  its  cares,  and  let  the  heart  dismiss 
some  of  its  beloved  objects ;  that  they  may  be  better  employed  in 
pondering  the  scenes,  and  fixing  a  grasp  upon  the  objects  of  a  bet- 
ter life.  Thus  we  should  be  drawn  nearer  to  the  scenes  of  eter- 
nity, should  feel  that  its  interests  demanded  our  care,  and  should 
be  led  to  speed  our  preparation  for  a  dying  hour.  We  are  thus 
urged  to  the  subject,  by  all  that  heaven  is  worth,  by  all  that  is 
shocking  in  a  hopeless  death-bed,  and  by  all  that  is  black,  and 
dark,  and  dreadful,  in  the  untold  horrors  of  the  second  death.  If 
we  hold  an  unbroken  grasp  upon  the  present  life,  and  the  present 
world,  till  we  have  come  to  the  precincts  of  another,  it  must  not 
surprise  us  if  our  dying  lips  are  heard  to  utter  this  melancholy 
outcry,  "  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  I  am  not 
saved."  We  may  have  our  heaven  here  if  we  can  stumble  on  such 
a  wretched  choice,  but  then,  all  beyond  is  hell ;  or  we  may  deposit 
our  treasure  in  heaven,  and  in  that  case  gather  many  of  its  com- 
forts on  our  way  thither. 

Wise  men  have  always  thought  much  on  the  subject  of  death. 
Read  the  history  of  the  patriarchs,  and  prophets,  and  apostles,  and 
how  often  do  we  see  them,  as  it  were,  wandering  amid  the  scenes 
of  the  tomb.  They  contemplated  the  event  of  death,  as  worthy 
to  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  every  scheme  of  life,  prepared 
themselves  a  sepulchre,  and  gave  commandment  concerning  their 
bones,  with  the  same  calmness  as  when  they  thought  of  other 
events.  Solomon  and  David  seemed  to  feel  themselves  nobly  em- 
ployed in  describing  the  scenes  of  the  dying  hour.  Locke  and 
Newton,  men  of  the  noblest  genius,  esteemed  the  present  world 
as  but  their  temporary  residence.  And  if  the  frequent  contempla- 
tion of  a  great  subject  is  evidence  of  a  great  mind,  men  may  not 
hope  to  evince  their  wisdom  by  dismissing  the  subject  of  death, 


358  THE   WISE   MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY. 

and  the  grave.  Compared  with  these,  all  other  subjects  are  small 
and  mean.  Am  I  to  drop  this  body,  and  enter  an  unknown  world, 
and  find  a  far  different  state  and  different  employ  ;  these  are  great 
and  grand  ideas  that  deserve  all  the  strength  of  the  mind,  and  all 
the  energy  of  the  heart  in  their  slow  and  prayerful  contemplation. 
Does  death  finish  my  character,  and  fix  my  destiny,  and  place  me 
unalterably  in  paradise  or  perdition  ;  I  have  not  a  care  so  worthy  to 
occupy  my  intellect,  nor  a  scene  in  contemplation  on  which  I  so 
much  hang  my  hopes,  and  about  which  cluster  affections  so  wor- 
thy the  dignity  of  my  immortal  nature.  "  0  that  they  were  wise." 
You  have  known  cases,  when  men,  occupying  the  same  prison, 
were  under  the  same  sentence  of  death.  You  entered  their  apart- 
ment on  the  morning  of  their  execution.  One  was  sporting  in  his 
chains,  as  indifferent  to  the  scene  before  him  as  if  no  crime  had 
been  committed,  and  no  judgment  had  been  given.  You  was  ready 
to  presume,  that  he  did  not  know  that  his  last  day  had  come,  and, 
when  undeceived  on  this  point,  did  you  not  instinctively,  pro- 
nounce him  a  fool  1  His  fellow  sat  solitary  in  the  corner  of  his 
cell,  casting  his  eye  along  the  page  of  inspiration,  and  when  he 
saw  you  he  fixed  upon  you  a  look  of  wishfulness  and  of  agony,  and 
exclaimed,  "  This  is  my  last  day !"  Did  he  not  then  exhibit  a 
dignity  that  commanded  your  tearful  respect  1  The  one  intended 
to  postpone  the  cares  of  death  till  he  perished,  the  other  pondered 
the  scene  as  it  approached,  and  when  the  last  day  had  come,  could 
think  of  nothing  else.  From  the  one  you  turned  with  disgust,  the 
other  you  honored.  Yes,  and  we  have  the  same  impression,  when 
we  meet  with  men  of  these  opposite  characters  in  the  streets,  that 
you  had  when  you  entered  the  precincts  of  that  dungeon.  The 
one  will  not  speak  nor  permit  us  to  speak  of  any  world  but  this  ; 
the  other  gladly  accompanies  us  to  the  death-bed  and  the  judg- 
ment. The  one  we  honor,  and  the  other  we  pity.  We  know  that 
both  are  condemned  by  the  law  of  God,  and  that  both  must  die, 
and  be  judged,  and  have  their  state  unalterably  fixed,  and  live  in 
glory  for  ever,  or  lie  down  in  "  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 
We  feel  that  it  would  be  wise  in  them  to  lay  these  things  to  heart, 
and  speak  of  them  as  amazing  realities,  and  they  sink  in  our  esti- 
mation if  we  see  them  reluctant  to  cast  a  look  beyond  the 
sepulchre. 

REMARKS. 

1.  Men  are  sometimes  afraid  to  think  of  death,  presuming  that 
such  thoughts  are  a  prelude  to  its  approach.     I  believe  it  is  often 


THE    WISE   MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY.  359 

impressed  upon  their  minds,  that  to  converse  with  the  scene  would 
absolutely  urge  on  their  dissolution.  But  we  shall  die  none  the 
sooner,  if  we  often  contemplate  the  solemnities  of  our  departure. 
Nor  will  death  stay  his  progress  if  we  push  from  us  all  thoughts 
of  his  advance.  In  the  counsels  of  heaven  there  is  an  appointed 
time  when  we  shall  receive  our  arrest,  and  the  places  that  know 
us  shall  know  us  no  more.  Why  then  be  afraid  to  meet  the 
thoughts  of  futurity,  and  to  converse  with  the  grave.  We  have  a 
preparation  to  make.  If  nothing  is  yet  done,  then  no  other  subject 
should  engross  the  mind  till  something  is.  Will  a  wise  man  culti- 
vate his  fields,  till  he  has  made  some  effort  to  have  his  heart  fruit- 
ful in  the  affections  of  the  gospel  1  Will  he  be  careful  for  an  es- 
tate, till  he  has  laid  up  his  treasure  in  heaven  1  Will  he  adjust 
his  accounts  with  men,  and  feel  no  concern  to  settle  the  quarrel, 
arid  have  the  debt  cancelled,  that  stands  against  him  on  the  records 
of  his  Maker  1  Will  he  regard  the  esteem  of  men,  and  make  no 
effort  to  wipe  from  his  character  the  almost  indelible  stigma 
which  sin  has  stamped  upon  his  moral  reputation  1  There  is  no 
other  concern  worth  your  care  if  God  is  your  enemy.  Be  this  the 
first,  and  be  this  the  only  care,  till  that  tremendous  controversy  is 
happily  adjusted. 

2.  Sometimes  men  are  afraid  to  think  of  death,  because  they 
know  that  they  are  not  prepared.  They  are  scared  at  their  own 
condition.  I  recollect  to  have  seen  it  stated,  that  much  of  the  city 
of  Paris  is  undermined  by  a  quarry,  now  improved  as  a  cemetery, 
where  moulder  the  ashes  and  the  bones  of  its  former  gay  and 
thoughtless  population.  Fears  have  been  entertained  that  it  might 
one  day  sink  into  that  deep  and  fearful  sepulchre.  A  slight  shock 
of  an  earthquake  might  be  sufficient  to  break  the  deceitful  incrus- 
tation upon  which  they  revel,  and  under  which  they  are  destined 
to  rot.  Lest  any  should  take  alarm  at  their  frightful  situation,  I 
am  told,  there  is  a  law  of  the  city  forbidding  its  inhabitants  to  ex- 
plore the  vault  that  yawns  beneath  them.  Thus  sinners  covet  the 
calm  that  arises  from  ignorance  of  their  true  condition.  But  blind- 
ed as  they  may  keep  themselves  to  their  real  danger,  their  condi- 
tion remains  the  same,  and  the  pit  which  they  may  industriously 
cover  still  waits  to  receive  them.  One  would  think  it  more  wise 
to  endeavor  to  know  the  worst  of  their  case,  and  if  on  an  impar- 
tial survey  it  shall  appear  desperate,  aim  to  secure,  while  it  is  pos- 
sible, their  future  safety  and  blessedness.  But  be  the  danger  of 
delay  more  or  less  imminent,  they  still  covet  a  little  more  sleep,  a 
little  more  slumber,  a  little  more  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep.  If 


360  THE    WISE   MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY. 

the  result  of  their  delay  is  perdition,  all  this  danger  they  intend  to 
risk. 

3.  Others,  perhaps,  refuse  to  consider  their  latter  end  because 
conscience  would  then  urge  them  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and 
render  them  unhappy,  if  they  still  urged  their  way  to  death.     Hav- 
ing by  some  means  or  other  come  to  the  monstrous  conclusion, 
that  religion  would  render  them  miserable,  they  have  barred  their 
minds  and  their  hearts  against  all  its  claims.     Hence  every  argu- 
ment, and  every  thought  that  may  suggest  an  argument,  and  every 
object  that  may  awaken  such  a  thought,  are  barred  from  every 
possible  approach  to  the  mind.     In  this  condition  no  meditations 
are  so  painful,  as  those  by  which  the  mind  approaches  the  unseen 
world,  and  gently  lifts  the  curtain  that  hides  futurity.     If  men 
should  act  so  madly  in  their  worldly  concerns,  they  would  merit  a 
cage,  a  chain,  or  a  guardian.     They  fly  from  their  best  friends, 
abandon  their  highest  interests,  and  linger  on  the  shores  of  death 
from  the  impression  that  to  live  for  ever   would  render  them 
wretched.  * 

4.  To  all  but  those  who  reject  a  Savior,  the  meditations  of 
death  and  the  grave  are  pleasant.     Here  is  a  period  to  all  their 
pains,  their  toils,  their  fears,  and  their  doubts.     In  death  they  drop 
this  dying  body,  and  leave  in  the  grave  the  last  relics  of  corrup- 
tion.    All  beyond  is  life,  and  joy,  and  immortality.     There,  for  the 
first  time,  the  good  man  will  have  that  view  of  Christ  which  he  has 
always  longed  to  enjoy,  and  be  himself  what  he  has  always  wished 
to  be.     Hence  the  good  man  often  finds  the  pulse  of  his  joy  quick- 
ened by  conversing  with  the  grave.     To  him  it  appears  closely 
connected  with  the  life  and  the  joys  to  come.     Where  the  sinner 
finds  nothing  but  corruption  and  misery,  he  gathers  hope,  and  joy, 
and  life.     To  him,  to  live  is  Christ,  but  to  die  is  gain.      How  de- 
lightful when  we  can  thus  think  of  death,  divested  of  its  sting,  and 
of  the  grave  as  a  kind  covert  from  the  storm,  a  shelter  and  a  home 
for  tjje  way-worn  pilgrim. 

APPLICATION. 

I  have  called  your  attention,  my  dear  friends,  to  this  subject,  be- 
cause I  know  not  how  soon  you  or  I  may  yield  this  transitory  life. 
A  few  past  weeks  have  made,  in  many  of  your  families,  deep  and 
fearful  ravages.  God  is  speaking  to  us  by  these  events,  and  the 
text  is  the  very  language  they  utter.  "  O  that  they  were  wise, 
that  they  understood  this,  that  they  would  consider  their  latter 
end."  If  God  is  heard  when  he  speaks,  it  is  well ;  and  if  not,  he 


THE    WISE    MAN    WISE    FOR    FUTURITY.  361 

will  speak  again  and  again.     Have  we  resolved  to  turn  our  feet  to 
his. testimonies  1     Will  professors  of  piety  closely  examine  their 
hearts  and  their  lives,  and  inquire  whether  they  have  been  born  of 
God,  and  are  bringing  forth  fruit  meet  for  repentance  1     May  we 
see  prayer  in  all  their  families,  and  piety  in  their  daily  conversa- 
tions ?     Will  those  who  have  no  hope  that  their  state  has  been 
altered  relax  a  little  their  care  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  give 
themselves  leisure  to  attend  to  the  things  that  belong  to  their 
peace,  before  it  be  hidden  from  their  eyes  1     Will  parents  deter- 
mine to  go  home,  and  set  their  house  in  order,  and  prepare  to 
leave  their  families  and  their  estates  for  ever  1     May  we  hope  that 
the  close  contemplation  of  the  grave,  to  which  we  are  invited,  may 
urge  us  all  to  cleanse  our  consciences  from  guilt,  to  application  to 
God  for  pardon,  and  make  confession  and  restitution  wherein  we 
have  wronged  or  abused  our  fellow-men.     It  will  be  dreadful  to 
come  to  the  death-bed  with  a  conscience  burdened  with  sin,  and 
feel  in  that  painful  hour  the  miseries  of  self-condemnation.     We 
all  have  a  conscience,  and  never  is  it  so  likely  to  gnaw  and  devour 
as  when  some  sudden  attack  of  disease  shuts  us  out  from  all  inter- 
course with  the  world.     Then,  if  our  miseries  do  not  forbid,  the 
busy  mind  will  retrace  our  past  life,  and  perhaps  bring  upon  that 
hour  the  compunction  which  it   should  now  be   our  wish  to  feel, 
and  the  anguish  which  then  we  shall  not  know  how  to  endure. 

Is  our  peace  made  with  God  1  Are  we  making  that  use  of  the 
gospel  which  was  heaven's  design  in  its  publishment  1  Are  we 
becoming  sanctified  through  the  truth  1  Or  is  the  gospel  more 
likely  to  be  a  savor  of  death  unto  death  to  us,  than  of  life  unto 
life  1  Are  there  any  of  our  youth  who  are  beginning  to  inquire 
after  a  Savior  and  a  pardon  1  May  we  hope  that  believers  are 
feeling  as  they  should  do  relative  to  those  who  are  perishing 
around  them  1  Are  they  staying  the  hands  of  their  pastor,  and 
pouring  into  the  ears  of  their  Redeemer  that  effectual,  fervent 
prayer  of  the  righteous,  which  availeth  much.  I  have  hoped,  and 
so  have  others,  that  God  was  about  to  pour  us  out  a  blessing. 
True,  there  stand  some  frightful  apprehensions  in  the  way  of  such 
a  blessing.  But  God,  if  he  ever  returns  and  leaves  a  blessing  be- 
hind him,  must  receive  us  before  we  are  worthy.  There  never  will 
be  that  moment  when  he  will  not  see  enough  in  us  to  provoke  him 
rather  to  destroy  us  than  to  save  us.  Hence  our  only  hope  is  that 
he  will  have  mercy  upon  us,  according  to  his  loving  kindness,  and 
according  unto  the  multitude  of  his  tender  mercies. 
46 


SERMON    XXXI. 

THE  DESPERATE  EFFORT. 

MATTHEW,   XI.    12. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  sufiereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force. 

I  REMEMBER  to  have  been  very  much  affected  with  a  scrap  of 
civil  story  which  I  met  with  in  the  history  of  the  Greeks'  escape 
from  the  iron  bondage  of  their  Turkish  oppressors.  After  being 
robbed  and  plundered  some  hundreds  of  years,  they  at  length  at- 
tempted to  escape.  The  enemy  had,  for  some  months,  closely 
besieged  Missolonghi,  and  the  Grecian  band  had  concluded  to  sur- 
render ;  but  as  there  was  nothing  for  them  but  servitude,  or  death, 
they  finally  concluded  not  to  be  taken,  but  to  rush  into  the  fort  at 
the  desperate  moment,  and  blow  themselves  up.  Their  purpose 
fixed,  and  the  light  of  Greece  about  to  be  extinguished  for  ever, 
there  was  one  young  man  who,  with  his  sister,  concluded  to  watch 
the  favored  moment,  and  rush  out  of  the  fort,  and  sell  their  lives 
as  dear  as  possible,  and  make  their  attack  where  the  ranks  of  the 
foe  were  the  thinnest.  They  did  so  ;  and  the  sister  being  mount- 
ed upon  a  mule,  fought  side  by  side  with  her  brother,  and  both 
were  so  inspired  by  their  desperation  that  they  hewed  themselves 
a  passage,  and  made  their  escape,  and  lived  to  tell  the  story.  Their 
settled  purpose  was  to  die,  sword  in  hand,  or  spill  all  the  Turkish 
blood  they  might,  and  live. 

Thus  men  must  determine  to  put  forth,  in  the  effort  to  reach 
heaven,  all  the  energy  they  can  muster,  and  if  they  do  this,  they 
shall  live.  I  suppose  this  to  be  the  very  spirit  of  the  text,  which 
reads  in  the  original,  "  Agonize  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate." 

I  was  similarly  affected  by  a  narrative  of  the  escape  of  a  post- 
man, who,  for  a  ve^ry  large  reward,  attempted  to  carry  a  letter 
across  one  of  the  deep  glens  of  Scotland,  through  an  overwhelm- 
ing northeast  storm.  He  had  been,  if  I  remember  right,  a  shep- 
herd, and  fearlessly  set  out  on  the  enterprise,  while  many  were 
filled  with  apprehension  for  his  life,  if  the  storm  did  not  subside. 
The  weather  was  excessively  cold,  and  the  violence  of  the  storm 
rendered  it  impossible  to  see  any  track  of  man  or  beast,  through 


THE    DESPERATE    EFFORT.  363 

the  whole  glen.  The  only  chance  of  a  safe  arrival  consisted  of 
some  knowledge  he  had  of  the  ground,  where  he  had  many  a  time 
driven  his  flocks  in  summer.  But,  as  he  afterward  assured  us,  one 
may  have  a  very  accurate  knowledge  of  the  way  in  summer,  while, 
in  a  winter  storm  of  snow,  at  night,  the  whole  way  seems  like  a 
trackless  ocean.  It  is  said  that  some  of  those  glens  in  Scotland 
are  so  full  of  snow  in  winter  as  not  to  thaw  out  in  midsummer. 

His  courage,  as  the  storm  thickened,  and  the  cold  increased, 
would  have  failed,  but  at  length  it  became  as  doubtful  whether  he 
could  find  the  way  back,  as  whether  he  should  succeed  in  crossing 
the  mountain  ridge  in  safety.  As  he  had  to  cross  many  a  small 
stream,  now  filled  with  snow,  he  not  unfrequently  sunk,  and  wet 
his  feet  in  the  stream,  and  on  bringing  them  up  again  to  the  cold 
air,  they  froze,  and  at  length  became  so  disabled  that  he  could  rise 
on  his  feet  no  more,  and  he  had  to  press  forward  on  his  knees  as 
well  as  he  could.  From  some  indications,  he  concluded  that  he 
had  well  nigh  crossed  the  glen,  and  might,  by  lifting  up  his  voice, 
be  heard.  He  cried  aloud  for  help — a  lost  traveler! — but  cried 
in  vain.  At  length  he  became  frozen  to  his  knees,  and  he  could 
only  worm  himself  onward  with  his  hands,  for  he  knew  that  when 
he  should  cease  all  exertion,  he  must  immediately  die,  and  there 
was  a  possibility  that  his  cry  might  be  heard,  and  he  should  live. 
Hence  he  raised  again  and  again  his  cry,  a  lost  traveler  !  But  at 
length,  a  little  opening  of  the  storm  showed  a  shepherd's  cot  at 
hand.  He  had  not  missed  his  way  to  the  cottage  of  a  shepherd 
which  he  sought,  and  easily  wormed  himself  to  his  very  door,  and 
gave  the  signal  that  saved  his  life.  His  friend  opened  to  him  and 
built  a  fire,  and  warmed  him  into  recollection  and  recovery. 

But  if  that  man  had  not  persevered  after  he  had  frozen  his  feet, 
and  even  after  he  could  no  longer  travel  on  his  lower  limbs,  but  had 
to  worm  his  way  on  his  elbows,  he  must  have  died.  Although 
he  was  near  the  shepherd's  cot,  yet  as  he  did  not  know  his  posi- 
tion, if  his  resolution  had  failed  for  a  moment,  and  exertion  had 
ceased,  he  must  have  died.  He  agonized  to  live,  and  his  agonizing 
saved  him.  And  if  we  will  only  thus  agonize  to  live  for  ever,  we 
shall  live  for  ever. 

There  is  not  an  enterprise  we  undertake  that  requires  so  much 
exertion  as  to  reach  heaven.  Those  who  conclude  that  they  know 
enough  of  the  subject  already,  and  that  heaven  will  come  as  a 
thing  of  course,  and  fold  their  arms  and  slumber  on,  will  die  in 
their  sins,  and  never  see  the  King  in  his  beauty.  The  few  years 
of  their  probation  will  slip  by  before  they  are  aware,  and  they  will 


364  THE    DESPERATE    EFFORT. 

just  begin  to  feel  the  importance  of  doing  something,  when  they 
shall  find  themselves  upon  a  dying  bed,  the  harvest  past,  the  sum- 
mer ended,  and  they  unsanctified.  The  Divine  direction  is, 
"  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  agonize  to  enter  in.  There 
is  here  no  tameness,  nor  waiting,  nor  listlessness,  nor  indifference. 
We  are  to  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  and  force  our  way  to 
heaven,  as  men  cut  themselves  a  path  by  dint  of  prowess,  through 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  make  their  escape,  when  there  seems 
nothing  before  them  but  death.  Who  can  you  expect  to  be  con- 
cerned for  your  salvation,  if  you  care  not  for  it  yourself?  Who 
will  agonize  for  your  cleansing,  and  your  pardon,  and  your  accept- 
ance, if  you  care  for  none  of  these  things  1  If  God  ever  inter- 
pose in  your  behalf,  the  first  thing  he  will  do  will  be  to  awaken  you 
to  the  concerns  of  your  own  soul.  If  you  are  not  now  awakened, 
it  is  certain  you  are  still  in  the  broad  way  to  destruction.  Let  me 
offer  a  few  reasons  why  you  should  try  to  be  saved. 

1.  You  cannot  expect  to  be  saved  without  trying.  "  The  kingdom 
of  heaven,"  says  Christ,  "  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take 
it  by  force  :"  implying,  as  all  agree,  that  if  we  would  be  saved, 
we  must  make  great  exertion. 

If  we  would  get  to  heaven  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  that  we 
must  know  and  believe.  We  must  be  acquainted  with  the  charac- 
ter of  God  that  we  may  love  him  ;  with  the  character,  offices,  and 
work  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  may  trust  in  him  j  with  the  nature 
and  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  we  may  feel  his  sanctifying 
influence.  We  must  be  acquainted  with  our  hearts,  or  we  shall 
never  see  the  need  of  their  being  purified  ;  and  with  all  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  gospel,  or  there  will  be  no  medium  of  our  cleans- 
ing. "  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth."  We  must  know  the 
Scripture  account  of  heaven,  or  we  cannot  wish  to  be  there ;  and 
to  learn  all  this  truth  will  require  great  exertion. 

We  have  a  great  many  sins  to  subdue,  and  must  calculate  to 
wrestle  hard  for  the  mastery.  Neither  pride,  nor  envy,  nor  anger, 
nor  vanity,  nor  ambition,  nor  lust,  nor  selfishness,  can  enter 
heaven.  We  must  put  off  all  these :  "  anger,  wrath,  malice,  blas- 
phemy, filthy  communication  out  of  our  mouth."  These  vile 
affections  must  all  have  been  subdued  when  we  reach  heaven.  The 
warfare  is  no  mean  one.  And  more  yet :  "  we  wrestle  not  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  principalities,  against  powers,  against 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wicked- 
ness in  high  places."  We  must  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  and 
lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 


THE  DESPERATE  EFFORT.  365 

Nor  can  we  enter  heaven  unless  we  have  all  the  features  of  the 
Divine  image  :  we  must  "  add  to  our  faith,  virtue ;  and  to  virtue, 
knowledge  j  and  to  knowledge,  temperance  j  and  to  temperance, 
patience  ;  and  to  patience,  godliness  ;  and  to  godliness,  brotherly- 
kindness;  and  to  brotherly -kindness,  charity."  We  must  be 
familiar  with  the  exercises  of  "  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance."  We  must 
"  forget  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto 
the  things  which  are  before,  and  press  toward  the  mark  for  the 
prize  of  the  hi£h  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  Now,  all  this 
implies  great  exertion,  which,  if  we  do  not  make,  we  cannot  reach 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

2.  Striving  to  be  saved,  you  have  the  most  kind  assurance  of  suc- 
cess. The  obstructions  to  your  salvation  are  all  removed,  on  God's 
part,  by  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  God  can  now  be 
u  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth."  "  Mercy  and  truth 
are  met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  embrace  each  other." 
If  you  seek  wisdom  "  as  silver,  and  search  for  her  as  for  hid  trea- 
sure," you  shall  "  understand  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  find  the 
knowledge  of  God."  "  He  that  seeketh  findeth,  and  to  him  that 
knocketh  it  shall  be  opened."  And  hence  the  kind  invitation, 
"  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found,  call  ye  upon  him  while 
he  is  near."  "  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous 
man  his  thoughts,  and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord  and  he  will  have 
mercy  upon  him,  and  to  our  God  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon." 

Sinner,  as  God  is  true,  who  has  given  all  these  assurances  and 
promises,  it  will  be  your  own  fault  if  you  are  not  saved ;  and  you 
will  have,  to  torment  you  in  the  future  world,  the  consciousness 
that  you  chose  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  your  deeds 
were  evil.  You  might  have  lived  in  heaven,  had  you  not  despised 
the  mercy  offered  you,  and  counted  yourself  unworthy  of  everlast- 
ing life.  When  was  it  ever  known  that  a  sinner  made  any  suitable 
exertions  to  be  saved,  and  still  was  lost  1  Among  all  their  unrea- 
sonable complaints  of  perdition,  none  ever  had  occasion  to  say, 
"  I  went  to  the  Savior,  at  his  invitation,  and  believed  the  promises, 
and  had  assurances  of  pardon,  and  hope  of  heaven,  and  yet  am 
lost !"  No !  not  one  of  the  spirits  in  prison  can  have  any  such 
alleviation  of  his  torment  as  the  thought  that  he  perished  through 
the  failure  of  a  Savior's  promise.  Why  then  will  you  not  be  saved  1 
God  will  glorify  himself  by  you,  either  in  your  destruction  or  sal- 
vation, and  he  commands  you  to  choose  life.  But  you  must 
choose  now — "  now  is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  salva- 


366  THE    DESPERATE    EFFORT. 

tion."    If  you  will  not  believe,  the  sin  and  the  ruin  will  be  your 
own. 

3.  You  should  try  to  be  saved,  because,  with  a  heavenly  temper, 
you  can  be  more  useful  in  life.     How  much  can  you  do  to  induce 
men  to  respect  the  name  of  God,  and  obey  his  law,  and  honor  his 
government,  and  keep  his  Sabbaths,  and  revere  his  sanctuary,  and 
obey  his  gospel.     You  can  set  an  example  to  men  of  all  the  duties 
of  piety,  and  induce  others,  by  your  godly  conversation,  to  glorify 
your  Father  in  heaven,  and  thus  become  a  light  of  the  world.    You 
can  help  to  strengthen  Christian  affection,  and  bind  into  a  still 
closer  and  lovelier  union  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ.    You 
can  aid  their  joy,  and  promote  their  sanctification  and  their  use- 
fulness.    You  can  set  an  example  of  the  moral  virtues,  and  by  your 
conduct  and  precepts,  elevate  public  sentiment,  till  a  great  amount 
of  the  misery  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  sinners  around  you  shall  be 
cured  or  alleviated.     And  when  saved  yourself,  you  can,  by  God's 
blessing,  induce  other   sinners  to  fly  for  refuge,  and  lay  hold  on 
the  hope  set  before  them  in  the  gospel.     But  none  of  this  can  it 
be  hoped  you  will  do,  till  you  are  saved  yourself. 

4.  You  should  try  to  be  saved,  because  you  could  be  so  useful  in 
heaven.     God  has  given  you  a  mind,  and  if  not  now  the  most  bril- 
liant, it  might  perhaps  be  such  in  heaven.     The  rough  block  of 
marble  may  embosom  the  most  beautiful  specimens  of  polished 
and  useful  workmanship.     Your  mind,  could  it  once  be  placed  in 
the  school  of  Christ,  and  afterward  in  heaven,  might  claim,  for 
aught  you  know,  a  blessed  elevation  among   its  ransomed  choirs. 
Unclog  it,  and  none  can  say  but  it  may  yet  vie  with  angelic  pow- 
ers.    And  God  might  then   employ  it,  we  know  not  how,  in  the 
loftiest  enterprise.     We  do  not  believe  that  heaven  will  be  a  place 
of  idleness.     Some  new  anthem  may  perpetually  elicit  more  de- 
light through  all  the  heavenly  courts.     Some  new  means  of  doing 
good  to  that  world,  or  this,  or  some  other,  may  from  time  to  time 
arrest  the  attention  of  angels,  and  secure  the  co-operation  of  all 
the  holy  assembly.     Such,  we  may  suppose,  was  the  visit  of  Ga- 
briel to  Daniel ;  and  such  the  song  of  angels,  heard  by  the  watch- 
ful shepherds,  at  the  birth  of  Christ.     None  can  say  that  the  Re- 
deemer may  not  employ,  in  administering  the  government  of  this 
world,  the  very  beings  he  has  redeemed  from  it  with  his  blood.    O 
sinner  !  we  regret  that  you  should  be  lost,  for  we  know  not  how 
useful  you  might  be  in  heaven. 

5.  You  should  try  to  be  saved  also,  because  you  could  be  so 
happy  in  heaven.     Even  in  this  poor  world  there  is  enjoyment. 


THE  DESPERATE  EFFORT.  367 

How  much  greater  will  be  our  bliss  in  heaven,  where  all  obstruc- 
tions to  our  happiness  will  be  removed.  There  will  be  no  unhal- 
lowed passions  to  be  excited.  No  pain  will  there  arise  from  anger, 
wrath,  malice,  envy,  ambition,  covetousness,  pride,  vanity,  lust, 
jealousy,  or  revenge.  There  will  be  no  natural  body  to  hunger, 
thirst,  faint,  and  tire  ;  to  suffer  pain  from  frost,  or  heat,  or  famine, 
or  pestilence,  or  wound,  or  bruise,  or  mutilation,  or  death.  There 
will  be  no  foe  to  hurt  your  character,  your  interest,  your  feelings, 
or  your  person  ;  no  rival  to  hate,  or  inferior  to  despise.  There 
will  be  in  heaven  no  .sun  to  scorch,  or  storm  to  destroy,  or  moon 
or  sun  to  be  eclipsed,  or  sky  to  be  clouded.  Suppose  all  this,  and 
how  much  of  life's  misery  is  gone. 

Add  now  to  the  removal  of  these  obstructions  every  positive 
good  that  an  Almighty  God  can  bestow ;  a  mind  fully  illuminated, 
a  heart  the  seat  of  every  kind  and  holy  affection,  a  conscience  ex- 
onerated from  guilt,  an  imagination  unlimited  in  its  power  of  con- 
ception, a  judgment  that  can  never  err.  Let  there  be  presented 
to  the  admiring  view  all  that  is  lovely,  all  that  can  be  included  in 
the  golden  city,  the  rivers,  and  the  tree  of  life,  the  banquet  of  the 
Lamb,  "  the  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory,"  the 
everlasting  song,  the  uninterrupted  rest,  and  the  society  for  ever 
of  holy  men  and  holy  angels.  All  this  would  render  you  so  happy, 
that  we  cannot  endure  the  thought  of  your  being  lost.  Try  then 
to  be  saved,  that  you  may  be  happy  in  heaven. 

6.  What  others  have  done  for  your  salvation  should  induce  you 
to  try  to  be  saved.  The  plan  for  your  redemption  was  laid  in 
heaven.  To  accomplish  it,  the  Son  of  God  became  incarnate, 
lived  a  life  of  sorrow,  and  died  on  the  cross,  and  now  ever  lives  to 
make  intercession  for  you.  How  much  he  must  have  cared  for 
your  soul !  In  the  achievement  of  the  same  plan  of  mercy,  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  sent  from  heaven  to  awaken  and  sanctify  you. 
He  has  often  strove  with  you,  has  produced  alarm  in  your  con- 
science, and  perhaps  deep  conviction  ;  has  given  the  truth  some- 
times a  fixed  lodgment  by  the  side  of  your  heart.  Thus  has  he 
evinced  his  readiness  to  save  you.  And  his  ministers,  too,  have 
long  and  earnestly  pleaded  with  you.  In  many  a  sermon,  unless 
you  have  absented  yourself  from  the  house  of  God,  they  have 
pleaded  with  you  to  "  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  lay  hold 
on  everlasting  life."  And  they  have  sometimes  felt  an  agony  for 
your  soul,  that,  it  would  seem,  could  not  be  denied.  They  have 
prayed  for  you  many  a  time  in  the  midnight  hour,  and  then  have 
come  from  their  closets  and  wept  over  you — and  all,  it  seems,  to 
no  purpose. 


368  THE  DESPERATE  EFFORT. 

It  may  be  that  a  pious  parent  has  long  cared  for  your  soul 
Through  the  fear  that  you  would  be  lost,  that  faithful  friend  may 
have  wished  many  a  time  that  you  had  never  been  born.  O !  could 
you  have  known  the  anxiety  and  the  agony  of  that  parent,  while 
watching  over  the  slumbers  of  your  cradle,  then  you  would  try  to 
be  saved. 

And  it  may  be  that  a  pious  brother,  or  sister,  or  wife,  is  at  this 
moment  pleading  at  the  throne  of  grace  for  your  salvation.  And 
will  you  not  then  care  for  yourself,  and  try  to  be  saved  1  All  this 
care  for  you — and  you  none  for  yourself ! 

7.  You  should  try  to  be  saved,  because  you  must  be  infinitely 
degraded  in  hell.     You  are  to  remember,  that  you  were  made  a  lit- 
tle lower  than  the  angels  ;  that  you  have  a  nature  capable  of  being 
elevated  to  a  close  companionship  with  them,  and  of  pouring  forth 
a  praise  as  noble,  and  glowing  with  a  love  as  ardent  as  theirs. 
And  now  to  think  of  sinking  with   such  a  nature  down  to  hell, 
of  being  the    companion    of  devils,    and  of  employing  your  lips 
in   unceasing   blasphemy, — how  gloomy  the  conception !     There 
will  be,  in  your  case,  the  shame   of  being  convicted,  and  that  be- 
fore assembled  worlds,  and  of  being  banished  into  outer  darkness, 
where  is  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.     And  your  fall  from  the 
hope  of  heaven  must  be  known.     You  must  be  for  ever  congre- 
gated with  the  meanest   of  your  race,  the  thief,  the  robber,  the 
murderer,  the  swindler,  the  liar,  the  drunkard^  and  the  whole  mass 
of  convicts.     And  your  employment  will  be  suited  to  the  temper 
of  your  heart,  and  all  restraint  removed.     Hence  despair,  and  blas- 
phemy, and  malice,  and  revenge,  will  be  the  habitual  and  the  de- 
graded exercise  of  the  damned. 

Hell  will  be  the  grand  prison  of  the  universe,  where  will  be  col- 
lected the  incorrigibly  wicked,  the  smoke  of  whose  torment  will 
ascend  up  for  ever  and  ever,  marking  out  the  place  as  the  most  ac- 
cursed spot  in  all  the  dominion  of  God.  The  ignominy  of  such  an 
imprisonment,  and  such  a  damnation,  if  there  were  no  positive 
punishment  inflicted,  no  quenchless  fire,  nor  never-dying  worm, 
would  be  more  than  can  be  endured.  "  Can  thine  heart  endure,  or 
can  thine  hands  be  strong  in  the  day  that  I  shall  deal  with  thee  1" 

8.  You  should  try  to  be  saved,  because  the  most  bitter  reflections 
await  you  if  you  are  not  saved.     You  will  reflect  how  much  was 
done  to  save  you  ;  how  much  the  Savior  did  ,  how  much  the   Fa- 
ther did ;  how  much  the  Spirit  did  ;  how  much  your  Christian 
friends  did — all  to  no  purpose.     You  will   reflect  how  many  ser- 
mons, and  prayers,  and  tears,  and  entreaties,  and  Sabbaths,  and 


THE  DESPERATE  EFFORT.  369 

sacraments,  and  admonitions  of  conscience,  and  revival  seasons, 
.and  alarming  events  of  Providence,  have  spent  their  force  upon 
you  to  no  purpose,  hardening  you,  when  perhaps  they  might  have 
saved  you. 

You  will  reflect  how  easy  were  the  terms  of  salvation  ;  that  you 
were  offered  life  if  you  would  only  believe  ;  that  no  truth  was  re- 
quired to  be  believed  but  that  of  which  you  had  evidence,  and  no 
duty  to  be  done  but  that  which  would  have  been  pleasant;  that 
your  life,  if  you  had  believed,  would  have  been  more  happy,  your1 
death  tranquil,  and  your  eternity  glorious.  You  will  reflect  how 
nigh  you  came  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  was  lost.  Born  in  a 
Christian  land,  of  Christian  parents,  the  Bible  early  in  your  hand, 
and  you  as  early  taught  to  read  it,  given  up  to  God  from  your 
birth,  instructed  carefully  in  the  truth,  and  furnished  with  the  Sab- 
bath, and  all  its  holy  appendages — it  will  seem  to  you,  for  ever, 
that  you  sunk  down  to  perdition  from  the  very  threshold  of  heaven. 

You  will  reflect  how  many,  with  no  more,  and  perhaps  fewer  ad- 
vantages than  you,  have  escaped  to  heaven.  Your  brother  or 
sister,  it  may  be,  was  saved,  while  you  were  lost.  Some,  perhaps, 
your  immediate  friends,  of  wicked  families,  and  having  nothing 
like  the  advantages  that  you  had,  have  reached  heaven,  while  you 
have  been  lost.  Shall  these  bitter  reflections  prey  upon  you  like 
a  famine,  or  a  pestilence,  for  ever  1  Will  you  not  try  to  be  saved  1 
"Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate  ;  for  many,  I  say  unto  you, 
shall  seek  to  enter  in,  and  shall  not  be  able." 

9.  You  should  attempt  NOW  to  be  saved,  because  the  longer  you 
postpone,  the  less  is  the  probability  that  the  attempt  will  ever  be  made. 
Whatever  are  the  reasons  of  the  postponement,  they  are  reasons 
furnished  by  depravity,  and  will,  of  course,  increase  with  the 
growth  of  sin.  If  it  be  enmity  to  the  kind  and  lovely  Savior,  it 
will  multiply  with  your  years,  and  ripen  with  your  age.  If  his 
eternal  excellences  have  never  yet  won  your  heart — if  the  glories 
that  have  attracted  the  gaze,  and  waked  the  song  of  angels,  and 
been  echoed  in  notes  of  victory  through  the  caverns  of  death, 
have  produced  no  thrill  of  joy  in  your  soul,  how  can  you  hope 
that,  as  his  glories  shall  become  brilliant,  and  the  notes  of  his  con- 
quest shall  wax  louder  and  louder,  your  spirit  will  become  sub- 
dued 1  Will  it  not  rise  in  its  wrath,  and  envenomed  at  length  like 
the  serpent  that  has  plunged  its  fangs  into  its  own  life-stream,  seal 
its  own  damnation,  and  lie  down  in  fire  1  Wait  not  till  heaven  has 
raised  another  shout  of  victory  ;  stay  not  till  Christ  has  conquered 
the  gods  of  China,  or  quelled  the  demons  of  Ham's  dark  empire, 
lest  his  glories  should  pierce  your  soul  through  with  the  poisoned 
47 


370  THE  DESPERATE  EFFORT. 

arrows  of  everlasting  chagrin.  O  wait  not  to  have  the  Hero  of 
Calvary  put  forth  any  hidden  glory  of  his  name  !  Devils  will  taunt 
the  sinner  that  waits  for  this,  and  is  damned.  His  laurels  wave 
already  over  their  dark  empire,  and  their  king  quails  at  His  power, 
and  dies  anew,  whenever  another,  and  still  another  victory  is  sung. 
10.  Or  do  you  postpone  embracing  the  Savior,  because  you  have 
not  yet  had  your  fill  of  sin  ?  Surely  it  has  made  you  miserable 
enough.  Your  satiety,  after  a  scene  of  pleasure,  has  sometimes 
been  almost  insupportable.  When  it  threatened  your  health,  or 
your  character,  or  your  business,  to  continue  any  longer  in  sin,  how 
indescribable  have  been  your  sensations  of  regret !  You  wished 
you  had  never  loved  sin,  or  learned  to  sin ;  you  wished  that  your 
parents  had  early  restrained  you ;  you  regretted  that  you  had  ever 
formed  an  acquaintance  with  that  man  who  tempted  you  to  sin  ; 
that  you  had  ever  been  in  that  circle  whose  bewitching  snares 
have  caught  you  and  held  you  ;  that  ever  you  visited  that  scene 
of  dissipation,  or  went  to  that  house  of  death.  How  horrid,  to  be 
filling  up  life  with  these  regrets,  and  to  pore  unavailingly  over 
what  should  be  at  once  repented  of  and  abandoned !  How  grovel- 
ling, to  be  howling  upon  your  bed,  when,  if  you  would  only  be  in- 
genuous enough  to  repent,  you  might  be  lifting  up  your  voice  in 
praise,  and  be  singing  on  your  way  to  the  grave,  songs  sweet  as 
angels  use.  The  meanness  of  sin  will  render  it  impossible  that 
the  lost  should  have  any  respect  for  themselves,  or  for  each  other 
in  the  world  of  death !  How  utterly  vain  the  expectation,  that 
there  shall  be  in  that  world  anything  worthy  to  be  called  society,  or 
kindness,  or  friendship  !  0,  it  will  be  all  a  mass  of  despair,  and 
chagrin,  and.  hatred,  and  shame;  when,  if  men  would  only  be  wise 
now,  and  accept  the  offered  Savior,  all  this  might  be  exchanged 
for  heaven,  where  kindred  spirits  might  bask  in  everlasting  sun- 
shine through  all  the  years  of  the  existence  of  the  unchanging  God. 

REMARKS. 

1.  But  why  does  God  make  it  so  difficult  to  get  to  heaven  ?• 
Does  he  delight  to  put  poor  human  nature  upon  such  a  pain- 
ful effort  with  no  specific  design  1  We  suppose  that  God  has 
a  wise  and  good  design,  and  that  his  design  may  be  obvious.  To 
make  such  a  mighty  effort  to  reach  heaven  will  greatly  enhance 
the  joy  of  being  saved.  O,  when  the  effort  is  made,  is  over,  and 
the  object  won,  with  how  much  joy  may  believers  look  back  on 
all  the  way  that  God  led  them  to  his  kingdom.  When  they  shal) 
see  the  wilderness  all  trodden  over,  every  sin  and  every  foe  sub- 
dued, and  every  snare  escaped,  and  look  upon  the  heavenly  route 


THE    DESPERATE    EFFORT.  371 

from  the  heights  of  Zion,  they  will  sing  the  more  joyfully  to  the 
honor  of  him  who  led  them  by  a  right  way,  that  they  might  go  to 
a  city  of  habitation.  How  joyfully  would  that  Grecian  pair  raise 
among  their  countrymen,  the  long  and  loud  Te  Deum  to  the  God 
of  armies !  when  there  had  so  few  escaped  and  yet  they  had  es- 
caped, and  when  they  had  found  themselves  the  only  two  who  had 
sold  their  lives  at  any  price,  and  they  had  brought  life  away  with 
them  in  all  its  vigor  and  in  all  its  youth,  life  to  them  would  seem 
more  lovely. 

2.  If  we  have  taken  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  our  goods  ;  knowing 
in  ourselves  that  we  have  in  heaven  a  better  and  an  enduring  sub- 
stance, and  through  much  tribulation  have  come  where  that  trea- 
sure is,  and  find  it  ample  and  abiding,  heaven  will  always  seem 
worth  more  for  the  cost  of  it.  We  always  value  most  what  cost 
us  most  5  and  if  heaven  cost  us  more  than  everything  beside,  we 
shall  proportionally  esteem  it.  When  the  whole  family  of  the  .re- 
deemed shall  have  vied  with  each  other  through  ten  thousand  ages, 
in  the  effort  to  see  which  can  set  the  highest  price  upon  the  ex- 
ceeding weight  of  glory  that  shall  have  been  poured  in  upon  their 
glorified  spirits,  they  will  not  have  reached  the  price  or  told  the 
value.  Its  price  is  far  above  rubies.  One  will  value  that  world 
highly,  because,  in  competitorship  with  a  million  of  his  generation 
he  out-did  them  all  in  the  effort  to  keep  fanned  up  the  flame  of 
holy  love  in  his  heart,  which  held  him  ready  for  a  renewed  conflict 
on  the  bed  of  death  with  that  enemy  who  goes  about  as  a  roaring 
lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  Another  and  another  will 
throw  into  their  song  of  victory  the  joy  of  an  exemplary  youth, 
made  so  by  the  constant  application  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  rais- 
ed them  above  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  the  lusts  of  the  eye,  and  the 
pride  of  life. 

One  lovely  mother  will  sing  of  a  reviving  season,  in  the  even- 
ing-time of  life,  which  threw  by,  and  passed  over,  the  storms  that 
had  gathered  about  the  place  of  her  setting  sun,  and  gave  her  joy 
in  death.  Thus  one,  and  another,  and  another,  when  they  shall 
have  fought  the  good  fight,  and  finished  their  course,  and  kept  the 
faith,  and  have  found  laid  up  for  them  in  heaven,  a  crown  of  life, 
will  unite  to  say  in  one  eternal  chorus,  God  is  the  King  !  The  one 
hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand  that  have  washed  their  robes 
and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  will  grace  the 
marriage  supper,  and  utter  in  a  long  and  loud  response,  "  This  is 
the  Lord,  we  have  waited  for  him  and  he  will  save  us  ;  this  is  our 
God  !  we  have  waited  for  him  and  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in 
his  salvation." 


SERMON    XXXII. 
CONCIO    AD  CLERUM. 

2  TIMOTHY    I.    8. 
Be  thou  a  partaker  of  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel. 

MOST  other  parts  of  Paul's  instructions  to  Timothy,  have  been, 
at  times,  the  foundation  of  address  to  God's  ministers  ;  but  this,  to 
my  knowledge,  never.  The  opinion  is,  that  Paul  wrote  this  epistle 
some  twelve  or  fifteen  years  after  the  date  of  the  first,  near  the 
close  of  life,  and  while  a  prisoner  at  Rome.  It  contains  his  dying 
advice,  given  in  view  of  the  assurance  that  his  departure  was  at 
hand.  Timothy  was  his  own  son  in  the  gospel,  and  he  expresses 
for  him  a  peculiar  affection,  and  deals  out  paternal  advice,  in  a 
dress  the  most  kind  and  amiable. 

The  exhortation  in  the  text  is  somewhat  singular.  Did  Timothy 
need  to  be  exhorted  to  become  a  partaker  in  the  afflictions  of  the 
gospeH  Did  it  depend  on  his  choice,  whether  he  would,  or  would 
not,  be  a  partaker  in  those  afflictions  1  Was  it  desirable  that  he 
stand  ready  and  willing  to  suffer  1  Was  it  honorable  or  necessary 
to  be  afflicted  in  the  discharge  of  hi  s  duty,  if  he  might  escape  I 
To  all  these  questions  the  text  implies  an  answer  in  the  affirma- 
tive. 

It  is  more  than  possible  that  he  saw  Timothy  tempted  to  deny 
his  father  in  Christ,  now  that  he  was  in  bonds.  The  enemy  would 
tauntingly  say,  This  is  the  proselyte,  and  the  pupil  of  that  Paul 
who  has  gone  to  Rome  in  bonds.  Hence  Timothy,  as  Peter  on  a 
former  occasion,  would  be  in  danger  of  saying  I  know  not  the  man. 
He  might  thus  hope  to  escape  the  cross,  and  might  fear  that  other- 
wise chains  might  be  fastened  on  himself,  as  a  man  equally  dan- 
gerous with  his  master.  Hence  he  exhorts  him  as  in  the  text. 

But  the  exhortation  is  not  of  private  interpretation,  and  will  ap- 
ply to  the  people  of  God,  and  especially  his  ministers,  in  this  age. 
as  readily  as  in  any  one  that  has  gone  by.  In  what  follows  I  shall 
notice  some  of  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel,  explain  the  import  of 
the  exhortation,  and  urge  upon  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  the 
duty  of  becoming  voluntary  partakers  in  these  afflictions. 


CONCIO    AD    CLERUM.  373 

I.  I  am  to  notice  some  of  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel.  In  doing 
this,  however,  I  shall  rather  dwell  on  the  causes  of  these  afflic- 
tions. 

1.  The  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  must  form  and  defend  an  un- 
popular character.  I  am  aware  that  efforts  have  been  made  to  show 
that  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  the  people  of  God  generally, 
need  have  nothing  about  them  peculiar,  and  I  am  aware,  too,  that 
many,  professing  godliness,  have  made  the  experiment  of  being,  in 
their  whole  deportment,  what  the  world  are.  And  it  cannot  be 
denied,  that  they  have  been,  in  that  case,  greatly  caressed  by  the 
world.  "  If  ye  were  of  the  world  the  world  would  love  his  .own." 
Can  we  but  flatter  as  adroitly,  and  dress  as  gaily,  and  joke  as  fa- 
miliarly, and  laugh  as  loudly,  as  the  most  thoughtless  of  the  mul- 
titude, they  will  cease  their  complaints.  With  the  minister  of  the 
gospel  who  can  shine  in  the  party,  and  advocate  the  dance,  and 
make  the  game  innocent,  and  the  theatre  chaste,  and  every  other 
vain  amusement  harmless,  the  world  will  have  no  quarrel.  Not 
the  most  profane,  or  proud,  or  gay,  or  voluptuous,  will  have  any 
fault  to  find  with  him,  when  he  ceases  to  reproach  them.  Let  him 
in  company  keep  back  the  subject  that  would  give  offence,  and 
suppress  the  dissent  that  would  be  unwelcome,  and  bless  whom 
the  world  blesses,  and  rebuke  whom  they  abominate,  and  the  world 
will  pronounce  him  a  fine,  a  charming  fellow.  Let  him  associate 
with  the  gluttonous  man,  and  the  wine-bibber,  and  not  carry  to 
their  house  and  their  table,  the  hard  doctrine,  and  the  pointed  re- 
buke, and  the  distinct  condemnation,  and  the  zeal  for  his  heavenly 
Father's  honor,  which  characterized  the  sociality  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  they  will  agree  to  love  him. 

And  I  have  not  my  eye  now  fixed  on  the  ministry  in  its  gross- 
est aspect ;  a  ministry  whose  whole  piety  is  a  kind  of  charity  that 
was  not  born  in  heaven,  and  has  neither  creed  nor  conscience.  I 
do  not  associate  such  men  with  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
in  that  better  school,  where  truth  is  held  in  high  estimation,  and 
charity  is  not  sightless,  and  fellowship  has  gospel  boundaries,  it 
is  feared  that  men  may  be  found  who  are  at  great  pains  to  avoid 
the  afflictions  of  the  gospel.  If  they  speak  of  hell,  it  is  with  an 
apology ;  if  they  describe  a  bad  heart,  they  "  hope  better  things 
of  their  audience  ;"  and  if  they  are  driven  to  rebuke  a  vice,  they 
do  it  so  tamely  as  to  make  no  impression.  Hence  the  world  love 
them,  and  feed  them,  and  rally  round  them,  and  admire  their 
prayers,  and  their  oratory,  and  enter  into  close  leagues  of  friend- 
ship with  them.  But  whether  such  was  the  character  of  his  min- 


374-  ,  CONCIO    AD    CLERUM. 

istry,  who  came  from  heaven  to  publish  salvation,  demands  a 
doubt. 

The  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  must  form  an  unpopular  charac- 
ter. They  must  be  more  serious,  more  holy,  more  circumspect, 
more  watchful,  and  prayerful,  and  heavenly-minded,  than  the  world 
would  choose  to  have  them.  They  must  adhere  more  tenaciously 
to  the  truth,  to  sound  maxims  and  correct  principles,  than  other 
men ;  must  be  emphatically  "  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, a  holy  .nation,  a  peculiar  people."  The  traits  of  character 
which  the  world  are  prepared  to  eulogize,  they  are  obligated  to 
lash,  and  equally  obligated  to  have  on  the  very  traits  that  give  the 
world  offence.  They  must  be  in  character  and  conduct  like  their 
Master,  having  a  conscience  that  will  not  bend  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  moment ;  a"  sternness  of  virtue  that  cannot  allow  iniquity  a 
smile,  a  fixedness  of  sentiment  that  looks  every  unhallowed  maxim 
into  shame,  a  regard  to  the  Divine  glory  that  can  sometimes  wield 
the  surge  of  rebuke,  and  drive  iniquity  from  its  presence.  They 
must  have  on  a  holiness  of  character  that  can  move  on  through 
the  ranks  of  sin  with  unbending  course  ;  and  command,  by  its  self- 
respect,  the  reverence  of  the  very  men  who  would  exterminate  so 
stern  an  integrity. 

And  the  character  they  cultivate  in  themselves  they  must  sus- 
tain in  others.  The  members  of  their  churches  must  know  that 
living  as  Christ  would  have  them,  they  shall  receive  no  reproach 
from  their  pastors,  for  not  becoming,  in  the  perverted  meaning  of 
the  apostle,  all  things  to  all  men. 

They  may  still  put  on  all  the  amiableness  of  the  gospel,  and 
show  out  the  benevolence,  the  meekness,  the  kindness,  the  hospi- 
tality, and  the  ardency  of  friendship,  that  piety  requires ;  and, 
finally,  leave  nothing  to  give  offence,  but  the  sternness  of  virtue. 
But  in  conjunction  with  these,  there  must  be,  in  the  ministers  of 
Jesus  Christ,  traits  of  character,  .that  the  men  of  the  world  will 
not  admire.  Hence  none  of  the  prophets,  nor  apostles,  nor  Jesus 
Christ  himself,  could  show  kindness  enough  to  atone  to  the  world 
for  their  holy  singularity.  They  partook  largely  in  the  afflictions 
of  piety,  and  went  most  of  them  to  heaven  from  the  cross,  the 
sword,  or  the  flames. 

2.  The  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  must  teach  unpopular  doctrines. 
They  must  show  the  very  men  who  feel  themselves  to  be  whole, 
and  in  no  need  of  a  physician,  that  they  are  poor,  and  wretched, 
and  miserable,  and  blind,  and  naked.  They  must  exhibit  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  to  the  very  men  who  would  perish  rather  than  trust 


CONCIO   AD    CLERUW.  375 

in  him,  as  the  only  foundation  of  their  everlasting  hopes.  The 
men  who  are  prepared  to  say,  What  lack  I  yet  1  must  be  pressed 
with  the  necessity  of  being  born  again.  The  very  men  who  can 
see  little  or  nothing  wrong  in  their  whole  life,  must  be  assured, 
that  except  they  repent  they  must  all  likewise  perish.  And  the 
decrees,  and  the  sovereignty  of  God,  that  so  exalt  Jehovah,  and 
so  debase  the  rebel,  must  be  urged  upon  the  very  men  who  have 
so  little  confidence  in  their  Creator,  that  they  would  not  place  the 
smallest  temporal  interest  at  his  disposal.  And  how  can  such 
doctrines  be  popular  with  such  men  1 

I  know  you  will  refer  me  to  facts,  and  inquire,  Why  are  there 
so  mUny  congregations  who  have  an  orthodox  ministry,  and  still 
all  has  been  harmony  for  half  a  century,  while  yet  there  have  been 
few  or  no  conversions  1  In  this  case  I  have  an  answer  that  per- 
fectly satisfies  me.  The  truth  has  never  reached  the  conscience. 
It  has  been  so  tamely  exhibited,  that  men  have  slept  under  it. 
Now  it  is  the  duty  of  Christ's  ministers  to  cure  this  insensibility, 
and  in  doing  it,  just  as  sure  as  God  is  true,  there  must  be  given  a 
new  heart,  or  the  unwelcome  intruder  will  be  made  a  partaker  in 
the  afflictions  of  the  gospel  ?  Compel  a  stupid  man  to  feel  the 
force  of  his  own  creed,  and  he  will  be  as  much  offended  as  when 
you  press  upon  his  conscience  doctrines  which  he  has  long  hated, 
and  long  since  discarded. 

I  know  there  is  a  ministry  which  I  dare  not  term  heretical,  but 
which  gives  no  offence  by  its  doctrines.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
doctrines,  though  not  denied,  are  never  distinctly  exhibited.  Men 
care  not  what  they  hear,  nor  what  believe,  if  they  may  be  permitted 
not  to  feel  nor  act.  Only  suffer  them  to  sleep  on,  and  you  may 
lecture  from  the  Shaster,  the  Koran,  or  the  Bible.  Let  it  suffice 
that  they  be  quiet  and  orthodox,  and  they  care  not  if  it  be  the 
quiet  of  death,  or  the  cold  orthodoxy  of  the  grave.  But  let  the 
truth  drop  from  the  lips  of  an  honest  ministry,  and  be  pressed 
home  with  energy,  upon  "  consciences  that  have  not  been  sprinkled 
from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God,"  and  that  ministry  will 
soon  become  conversant  with  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel. 

3.  The  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  must  urge  upon  the  world  un- 
popular duties.  It  is  a  great  mistake  that  men  are  any  less  dis- 
pleased with  the  duties  than  with  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  Let 
duty  be  fully  explained,  and  pressed  home  upon  the  conscience 
with  energy,  till  men  shall  see  no  retreat  from  its  obligations,  and 
no  press  of  doctrine,  the  most  offensive,  can  give  any  keener  pain, 
or  be  more  sure,  where  God  does  not  seal  the  word  by  his  Spirit, 


376  CONCIO   AD    CLERUM. 

to  awaken  the  keenest  displeasure.  Make  the  man  who  never 
prays  see  the  impiety  of  his  neglect,  and  repeat  to  him  that  note 
of  alarm,  "  Pour  out  thy  fury  upon  the  heathen,  and  upon  the  fami- 
lies that  call  not  upon  thy  name ;"  and  you  will  soon  discover  that 
he  feels  himself  as  uncomfortably  urged,  whenever  this  duty  is 
named,  as  when  a  doctrine  which  he  does  not  believe,  or  does  not 
love,  is  pressed  upon  his  faith.  Urge  upon  the  covetous  man  the 
duty  of  giving  liberally,  no  matter  what  the  object,  and  he  will 
writhe  more  under  the  press  of  this  duty,  than  when  urged  to 
believe  the  most  odious  doctrine.  Urge  home  upon  the  conscience, 
no  matter  what  duty,  that  men  are  unwilling  to  perform,  and  you 
offend  them  equally,  as  when  you  teach  a  doctrine  they  are  reluc- 
tant to  believe,  and  in  either  case  draw  upon  yourself  the  afflictions 
of  the  gospel. 

But  the  duty,  as  well  as  the  doctrine,  may  be  so  tamely  and  so 
prudently  named,  as  to  produce  no  sensations.  If  men  are  asleep, 
and  you  do  not  so  lift  up  your  voice  as  to  wake  them,  they  care 
not  whether  the  babbler  utters  a  duty  or  a  doctrine.  But  this  would 
not  have  satisfied  Paul.  If  he  might  have  preached  in  Athens  the 
true  gospel,  unmolested,  but  must  have  seen  that  people  continue 
their  idolatries,  he  would  have  felt  that  he  was  doing  nothing.  It 
is  doubted  whether  doctrine  or  duty  was  ever  urged  home  with 
gospel  energy,  but  the  result  was,  the  believing  of  the  doctrines, 
and  the  doing  of  the  duty,  or  the  great  offence  of  the  man  upon 
whose  irritated  conscience  they  had  been  urged  with  unwelcome 
vehemency.  Hence,  again,  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel. 

4.  The  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  must  advocate  in  his  Church  an 
unpopular  discipline.  Here  let  us  stop  to  solve  one  problem.  The 
men  of  the  world  are  perpetually  reproaching  professors  of  godli- 
ness for  their  sin.  Urge  religion  upon  them,  and  they  will  reply, 
"  I  am  in  as  fair  a  way  for  heaven  as  your  Christians."  And  often 
we  find  it  no  easy  matter  to  repel  the  charge.  We  lie  down  under 
it,  and  reply,  "  Truly  there  are  men,  without  the  pale  of  the 
Church,  as  generous,  as  pitiful,  as  public  spirited,  as  hospitable, 
as  quiet,  as  peaceable,  as  kind,  as  neighborly,  as  some  within." 
"  We  know,"  they  will  say,  "  that  we  do  not  pray  as  often,  as 
loud,  and  a^  long,  as  some  of  your  hypocritical  professors,  but  all 
this  we  more  than  balance  by  our  other  virtues." 

Now  from  all  this  it  would  seem  their  wish,  that  the  Church 
were  more  pure.  Surely  they  would  have  reformed  the  very 
thing  they  complain  of.  But  the  very  moment  the  Church  com- 
mences a  course  of  discipline,  with  any  wayward  brother,  the 


CONCIO    AD    CLERUM.  377 

9 

world  arms  itself  against  all  their  efforts.  And  often  is  there 
raised  without  the  Church,  an  opposition  that  would  deter  the 
Church  from  attempting  to  purify  her  fellowship.  And  the  minis- 
ter of  Jesus  Christ  is  understood  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  Church's 
purity.  Hence  he  becomes  the  butt  of  rebuke,  with  all  those  who 
would  shield  the  offender ;  and  should  he  be  passive,  even  to  a 
fault,  still  he  must  bear  the  whole  blame  of  the  process,  and  be- 
come often  the  scape-goat  that  bears  away  into  the  wilderness  the 
sins  of  the  whole  brotherhood.  Thus  he  becomes  a  large  par- 
taker in  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel. 
We  are  now  prepared, 

II.  To  say  that  the  exhortation  of  the  text  implies  two  things. 

1.  That  we  so  minister  in  our  holy  office,  as  to  make  sure  to 
ourselves  all  the  trials  that  faithfulness,  in  a  world  like  ours,  must 
incur.  We  must  form  the  very  character  the  ungodly  disapprove, 
nor  be  willing  to  lack  its  most  odious  ingredient.  We  may  not 
lay  aside  for  an  hour,  that  sobriety,  that  spirit  of  dissent  from 
error,  that  honesty  which  holds  the  tongue  the  sure  index  of  the 
mind,  that  elevation  of  the  affections  which  shrinks  from  a  supreme 
engrossment  in  the  conversation  and  the  cares  of  the  life  that 
now  is. 

We  may  not  conceal  the  features  of  the  new  man,  and  be  reli- 
gious in  secret  only,  or  when  in  the  company  of  God's  people. 
The  world  would  agree  to  this.  Can  we  but  act  the  mere  gentle- 
man in  their  society,  and  fawn  and  flatter  as  they  do,  and  ever 
smile  and  be  happy,  whatever  the  conversation,  or  sentiments,  or 
temper,  or  men  with  whom  we  come  in  contact,  this  would  satisfy 
them,  and  we  might  be  as  religious  as  we  please  in  our  bed-cham- 
ber. But  such  was  not  the  course  of  Jesus  Christ,  nor  yet  of 
Paul,  even  when  he  became  all  things  to  all  men.  There  must  go 
with  the  man  of  God,  visible  as  the  features  of  his  face,  the  strong 
outlines  of  his  heavenly  character.  After  all  the  allowance  has 
been  made  that  can  be,  for  the  difference  of  character  and  conduct 
that  may  exist  between  the  disciple  and  his  Lord,  still,  in  a  world 
like  ours,  all  gay,  and  thoughtless,  and  dissipated,  we  are  obli- 
gated to  put  on  so  much  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  wear  the 
lineaments  of  his  image  so  prominent  as  to  ensure  us  a  share  in 
the  reproach  that  fell  on  him,  and  must  help  others  to  do  the 
same;  and  must  pour  the  whole  mass  of  our  influence  into  a 
mighty  effort  to  make  the  whole  Church  of  God  as  unlike  the 
world  as  possible. 

48 


378  CONCIO    AD    CLERUM. 

We  must  feel  obligated  to  draw  upon  ourselves  the  reputation 
of  sustaining  an  unpopular  creed.  We  are  obligated,  I  know,  to 
give  offensive  truth  the  most  unoffending  aspect,  and  may  exercise 
all  the  wisdom  we  can  summon  in  descrying  the  Tempora  molia 
fandi;  but  when  all  this  is  done,  still  the  whole  truth,  first  or 
last,  must  come  out,  fully  and  plainly,  and,  when  distinctly  seen, 
will  not  be  approved  by  ungodly  men.  And  the  odium  felt  toward 
the  truth,  will  be  promptly  transferred  to  the  man  who  enforces  it 
upon  the  irritated  conscience. 

Now  the  faithful  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  may  not  attempt  to 
shun  the  trials  that  will  thus  ensue.  It  must  be  his  wish,  as  soon 
as  possible,  to  give  the  truth  all  that  plainness  of  exposition,  and 
point  of  application,  which  will  ensure  the  trials  that  follow.  He 
may  not  keep  the  offensive  doctrines  out  of  view,  nor  exhibit  his 
creed  obscurely,  nor  throw  in  any  salvo  to  prevent  the  truth  from 
taking  a  rank  hold,  or  so  conduct  that  his  daily  lightness  shall 
neutralize  his  Sabbath-day  efforts ;  else  he  wickedly  shuns  the 
afflictions  of  the  gospel.  And  with  the  same  decision  must  he 
urge  the  unpopular  duties  of  the  gospel.  He  may  not  keep  them 
out  of  view,  nor  present  them  obscurely,  nor  invent  excuses  for 
neglecting  them,  nor  lavish  his  smiles  upon  the  man  who  uniformly 
stands  aloof  from  them.  The  precepts  of  Jesus  Christ  in  all  their 
self-denying,  and  expensive,  and  laborious,  and  holy,  and  unpopular 
attitude,  must  be  promptly  exhibited,  as  claiming  the  obedience 
of  a  world.  And  the  duties  of  the  Bible  thus  fearlessly  exhibited, 
will  as  surely  convert  men,  or  offend  them,  as  the  doctrines.  The 
matter  of  fact  is,  that  the  precepts  imply  the  doctrines,  as  well  as 
the  doctrines  the  precepts  ;  and  the  man  who  urges  home  upon  the 
conscience  the  hated  duty,  no  less  than  he  who  exhibits  the  odious 
creed,  must  calculate,  unless  the  disciple  be  above  his  Lord,  to  be 
a  partaker  of  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel. 

And  he  must  be  known  to  be  the  advocate  of  a  watchful  disci- 
pline in  the  Church  of  Christ.  He  may  be  as  adroit  as  possible  in 
dividing  the  odium  with  the  members  of  his  Church,  it  should  be 
their  wish  to  be  partakers  with  him,  but  when  he  has  lain  hid,  and 
others  have  operated,  as  long  as  possible,  the  hour  will  at  length 
come,  in  every  bad  case  of  discipline,  when  he  must  have  an 
opinion  of  his  own,  and  express  that  opinion,  and  make  proselytes 
to  that  opinion,  and  it  will  be  against  the  conduct  of  the  offender, 
and  will  draw  upon  him  the  odium  of  one  who  needed  the  rod  of 
discipline  to  make  him  decent.  And  the  offender  has  friends  who 


CONCIO    AD    CLERUM.  379 

will  enlist  with  him,  and  feel  with  him,  and  hate  with  him,  the  min- 
ister of  Christ,  who  led  on  his  Church  to  the  act  which  covers  the 
Christian  character  of  the  offender  with  a  cloud.  Indeed  it  would 
be  wrong,  if  it  might  be  so,  that  a  Church  of  Christ  should  bear, 
without  the  countenance  of  their  pastor,  the  reproach  of  having 
administered  a  cruel  censure  upon  a  professed  follower  of  Jesus 
Christ :  Hence  no  escape  from  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel. 

2.  The  injunction  of  the  text  implies,  that  when  our  brethren  in 
the  ministry  have  taken  the  course  now  described,  and  have  drawn 
upon  themselves  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel,  we  stand  by  them, 
and  defend  them,  and  encourage  them,  and  take,  as  far  as  may  be,  a 
part  of  their  trials  upon  ourselves.  I  have  suspected  this  to  be  the 
burden  of  the  exhortation.  The  aged  apostle  exhorts  Timothy 
not  to  be  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord,  or  Paul  his  pri- 
soner, but  to  be  a  partaker  of  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel,  accord- 
ing to  the  power  of  God,  He  must  participate  in  the  trials  endured 
by  his  Father  in  Christ  for  his  faithfulness  in  the  dispensations  of 
the  gospel. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  the  offence  of  the  cross  has  ceased.  I 
know  that  Christ's  ministers  are  not  now  in  danger  of  the  same 
kind  of  persecutions  as  in  the  days  of  Paul.  They  do  not  fear 
dungeons,  or  faggots,  or  chains,  or  wild  beasts,  or  the  bloody  cross. 
They  may  apprehend  other  woes  however,  as  the  lash  of  slander, 
the  want  of  bread,  the  permanent  enjoyment  of  a  peaceful  home, 
and  the  means  of  educating  their  offspring.  And  who  would  not 
avoid  these  by  a  more  desperate  effort  than  would  be  made  to  es- 
cape death  itself.  I  know,  too,  that  faith  can  lift  the  mind  above 
a  host  of  trials,  and  render  the  hour  of  desperate  onset  a  time  of 
triumph,  and  make  these  light  afflictions,  which  are  but  for  a  mo- 
ment, issue  in  a  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  I 
know,  too,  that  many  ministers,  not  reputed  unfaithful,  escape  the 
trials  I  speak  of.  There  are  no  pointed  exhibitions  of  truth,  no 
extra  efforts  to  save  men  from  death,  no  energy  of  discipline,  no- 
thing to  break  in  upon  the  dead  calm  by  which  a  multitude  of 
souls  are  cradled  into  the  profoundest  slumbers.  And  the  result 
is,  no  revivals,  not  much  growth  in  grace,  and,  of  course,  no  dis- 
order. And  men,  under  such  a  ministry,  often  sleep  so  sweetly, 
that  any  voice  which  shall  wake  them,  even  the  voice  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  is  unwelcome.  Now  such  a  ministry,  I  know,  will  escape 
trials,  and  will  need  none  of  our  sympathy.  Pastor  and  people 
will  plod  on,  till  he  is  snatched  to  heaven,  and  they  scattered  upon 


380  CONCIO    AD    CLERUM. 

the  mountains,  or  gathered  and  saved  at  length  under  a  better 
ministry  that  will  need  our  sympathies. 

III.  I  shall  now  offer  some  reasons  why  the  ministers  of  Jesus 
Christ  should  participate  with  their  brethren,  in  the  afflictions  that 
arise  from  &  faithful  discharge  of  their  duty. 

1.  To  sustain  our  brethren  when  they  are  in  bonds  for  the  gos- 
pel, is  a  duty  we  owe  to  Jesus  Christ.     He  sent  them  to  preach  his 
gospel,  assuring  them  that  they  went  out  as  lambs  among  wolves, 
and  promised  to  be  with  them  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.     And 
he  makes  good  his  promise,  and  is  with  them,  and  is  a  partaker  in 
all  the  afflictions  they  suffer  for  his  sake.     Would  we  then  do  him 
honor,  we  must  sustain  whom  he   sustains,  and  sympathize  with 
those  who  cannot  compromise  the  honors  of  their  Master  to  escape 
the  cross.     Permit  me  to  say,  as  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  I 
ask  of  the  world  no  greater  honor,  than  to  be  considered  a  prompt 
partaker  in  the  afflictions  of  every  ambassador  of  his  who  suffers 
for  his  name's  sake. 

2.  It  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  our  brethren.     If  we  are  the  faithful 
ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  we  all  belong  to  the  same  embassy,  and 
are  obligated  to  kindness,  not  merely  from  Christian  affection,  but 
from  that  endeared  brotherhood  begotten  by  the  additional  rela- 
tionship of  office.     Hence,  with  regard  to  every  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ,  I  am  bound,  either  to  dispute  his  commission,  or  prove  him 
a  traitor  to  his  Master,  or  stay  his  hands  when  they  hang  down. 
It  was  a  law  in  Israel  that  if  a  beast  had  fallen  under  his  burden, 
one  that  was  passing  by  must  lift  him  up ;  what  then  are  we  not 
obligated  to  do   for  our  brethren  in  the  gospel,  when  they  faint 
under  its  afflictions. 

3.  Unless  the  ambassadors  of  Jesus  Christ  sustain  each  other,  the 
influence  of  the  gospel  ministry,  and  of  course  its  usefulness,  are 
greatly  diminished.     Common  sense  declares  that  unity  is  strength. 
And  each  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  knows  how  his  soul  is 
waked  to  energy  by  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he  is  sustained 
by  his  brethren  in  the  same  office.     And  the  men  we  are  sent  to 
save  are  the  more  prepared  to  yield  their  hearts  and  their  deport- 
ment to  the  influence  of  truth,  when  they  see  it  brought  to  them 
by  a  united  band ;  having  all  one  commission,  and  one  Master,  and 
one  creed,  and  one  heart.     It  then  comes  like  the   overtures  of 
peace,  brought  not  by  a  single  ambassador,  but  by  the  general  of 
an  army.     Then  the  commission  is  respected,  and  the  overtures 
receive  prompt  and  serious  attention. 


CONCIO    AD    CLERUM.  381 

4.  Not  a  few  of  God's  ministers  have  quit  the  work  and  others 
in  the  hour  of  conflict  have  looked  about  them  for  some  other  em- 
ployment, because  they  conceived  that  they  were  not  promptly  sus- 
tained by  their  brethren.  They  had  been  given  a  stubborn  field  to 
cultivate,  all  grown  over  with  thorns  and  briars,  and  they  labored 
till  they  had  richly  earned  the  confidence  of  those  who  had  occu- 
pied a  less  stubborn  and  more  fruitful  section  of  the  vineyard ;  but 
at  length  they  became  wearied  with  perpetual  effort,  and  finally 
quit  the  field.  And  it  is  a  query  worth  our  attention,  whether  a 
little  timely  help,  would  not  have  kept  them  in  the  work,  and  ren- 
dered them  immensely  useful,  while  now  they  are  at  some  other 
service,  and  must  die  out  of  the  vineyard.  And  there  are  probably 
many  at  this  very  moment  looking  about  them  for  a  school,  secre- 
taryship, or  professorship,  or  a  clerkship,  by  which  they  may  earn 
a  piece  of  bread  for  their  children.  And  this  at  the  very  moment 
when  we  are  making  every  possible  effort  to  send  forth  more 
laborers  into  the  vineyard.  Now,  why  not  make  some  effort  to 
sustain  those  already  at  the  work,  and  by  partaking  in  their  afflic- 
tions wake  them  to  renewed  enterprise,  and  a  far  more  extended 
usefulness  1 

If  any  who  have  been  commissioned  are  unworthy,  then  publish 
their  character,  and  send  them  back  to  the  plough,  and  the  residue 
sustain.  Shall  those  who  are  happily  located  fear  injury  to  them- 
selves, if  they  speak  a  kind  word  in  behalf  of  some  afflicted  brother  1 
I  will  not  allow  myself  to  believe  that  the  legate  of  the  skies  can 
act  from  a  motive  so  contracted.  I  will  rather  believe  that  depres- 
sion of  mind,  under  long  protracted  trials,  has  begotten  in  the 
minds  of  some  good  men  the  false  impression  that  they  were  not 
duly  sustained  in  their  conflicts.  And  I  will,  in  the  mean  time, 
place  high  in  honor  those  noble  men  who  have  earned  and  obtain- 
ed the  reputation  of  strengthening  the  weak  hands,  and  confirming 
the  feeble  knees,  and  who  have  ventured  to  say  to  the  fearful  heart, 
Be  strong,  fear  not.  They  have  kept  many  a  good  man  in  the 
field,  and  thus  have  virtually  made  more  ministers  than  many  who 
have  pleaded  eloquently  the  cause  of  charitable  education.  "  These 
ought  ye  to  have  done,  but  not  to  have  left  the  others  undone." 
Said  the  apostle  of  the  circumcision,  after  giving  us  a  catalogue 
of  his  afflictions,  "  Who  is  weak,  and  I  am  not  weak  ?  who  is  of- 
fended, and  I  burn  not  V  This,  it  seems,  was  the  lesson  which 
his  own  trials  had  taught  him. 

FINALLY — Brethren,  feel  not  that  the  subject  was  an  unnecessary 


382  CONC10   AD   CLERUM. 

exposure  of  ministerial  weakness.  We  shall  not  give  the  churches 
confidence  in  us,  by  showing  them  that  we  have  little  confidence 
in  one  another.  We  -shall  not  bless  them,  by  neglecting  and  des- 
pising those  in  the  ministry  who  suffer  till  they  abandon  the  broth- 
erhood, and  go  back  into  the  world  to  get  their  bread.  The  des- 
perate enemies  of  God,  who  are  quarelling  with  their  minister  be- 
cause he  has  ventured  to  tell  them  the  whole  truth,  may  be  glad  if 
we  will  leave  him  unsustained,  till  they  can  devour  him.  But  the 
good  sense  of  God's  people,  and  of  all  generous,  noble-minded  men, 
will  love  and  honor  us  the  more,  the  stronger  is  that  ligature  that 
binds  together  the  hearts  of  God's  ministers. 


SERMON    XXXIII.* 

THE  MERCIES  OF  GOD  NOT  OBEDIENTLY  RECIPROCATED. 

ISAIAH    I.    2.    ' 

Hear,  O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth  ;  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken ;  I  have  nourished  and  brought 
up  children,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me. 

How  provoking  is  the  sin  of  ingratitude !  Among  men  it  is 
considered  unpardonable,  while  every  other  crime  is  forgiven.  To 
be  ungrateful  argues  a  want  of  ingenuousness,  of  which  even  the 
most  ungrateful  are  not  willing  to  be  accused.  And  can  we  won- 
der that  pride  takes  the  alarm,  when  a  charge  is  brought  that  ar- 
gues baseness,  not  to  be  found  in  the  herd  of  the  stall. 

The  descendants  of  Abraham,  to  whom  the  prophet  refers,  fur- 
nish us  a  long  history  of  iugratitude.  God  had  so  distinguished 
them  as  to  render  them  eternal  debtors  to  his  mercy,  but  they 
rebelled  against  him.  He  called  Abraham  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
a  land  of  dark  idolatry,  gave  him  a  large  posterity,  and  made  them 
the  objects  of  his  peculiar  care.  When  oppressed  with  famine, 
the  king  of  Egypt  must  feed  them.  When  enslaved,  God  raised 
them  up  a  deliverer,  who  brought  them  out  with  triumph.  He 
bade  the  waves  of  the  sea  roll  back  and  leave  them  a  passage,  and 
'return  to  discomfit  their  foes.  He  miraculously  clothed,  fed,  and 
guided  them  forty  years.  He  then  divided  Jordan,  and  introduced 
them  into  a  beautiful  country,  which,  being  watered  with  enrich- 
ing dews  and  timely  showers,  furnished  them  all  that  heart  could 
wish.  To  give  them  room  he  "  drove  out  the  heathen  with  his- 
hand."  They  had  riches,  honors,  pleasures,  and  health.  God  de- 
livered to  them  his  word,  called  them  his  children,  and  placed  in 
their  magnificent  temple  the  symbol  of  his  presence. 

When  the  ten  tribes  revolted  from  the  house  of  David,  and 
were  abandoned  to  dispersion  and  slavery,  he  still  kept  his  eye  on 
Judah.  He  gave  them  wise  kings,  faithful  prophets,  and  a  mild 
and  happy  government.  Still  had  they  the  means  of  knowing  the 
mind  of  God.  They  had  their  temple,  their  high  priest,  their  holy 

*  Delivered  in  New-Jersey,  at  the  rising  of  the  sun,  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1814 ;  in  a  time  of  great  and  general  interest  on  the  subject  of  religion,  and 
intended  to  prevent  the  usual  desecration  of  the  day. 


384-  THE    MERCIES    OF    GOD 

altar,  and  their  daily  sacrifice.  For  many  years  they  sat  under 
their  vines  and  fig-trees,  and  none  made  them  afraid. 

Thus  God  nourished  and  brought  them  up  as  children..  Had  he 
not  a  right  to  expect  their  obedience  ?  Was  it  not  enough  to  as- 
tonish heaven  and  earth,  to  see  it  withheld  1  Can  we,  without 
amazement,  be  told,  that  in  contempt  of  all  this  succession  of 
mercies,  that  people  made  them  other  gods,  and  bowed  to  images 
which  themselves  had  carved  1  They  imprisoned  their  prophets, 
profaned  their  temple,  hardened  their  hearts,  and  generated  a  pos- 
terity prepared  to  embrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  All 
this  mischief  achieved  by  that  people,  God  resolved  to  destroy  ; 
but  first  commands  heaven  and  earth  to  listen  to  the  story  of  their 
apostacy :  "  Hear,  O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth  ;  for  the  Lord 
hath  spoken  ;  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they 
have  rebelled  against  me." 

How  aptly  does  this  whole  history  apply  to  us!  If  Judah's 
ingratitude  has  ever  been  surpassed — if  it  has  ever  been  equalled,  it 
has  been  in  America.  While  attending  to  this  short  history,  you 
have  been  making  the  comparison  between  that  nation  and  ours. 
We  have  been  nurtured  with  the  same  fatherly  care,  and  have  been 
equally  rebellious. 

In  pursuing  the  subject,  I  shall  follow  the  natural  division  of  the 
text,  and  show,  first,  that  God  has  nourished  and  brought  us  up  as 
children,  and  secondly,  that  we  have  rebelled  against  him. 

I.  I  am  to  show  that  God  has  nourished  and  brought  us  up  as 
children.  A  kind  parent  aims  to  promote  the  best  good  of  his 
children,  and  to  this  point  bends  every  effort.  So  the  dealings  of 
God  with  us  have  been  calculated  to  promote  our  best  good.  "  He 
hath  not  dealt  so  with  any"  other  "  nation."  In  proof  of  this  as- 
sertion we  have  only  to  look  at  facts.  It  is  asked,  Wherein  has 
God  given  us  proof  of  paternal  affection  ]  I  answer, 

1.  In  preparing  us  such  a  goodly  land.  It  is  believed  that  no 
portion  of  the  globe  is  to  the  same  extent  so  fertile,  healthful,  and 
pleasant  as  the  United  States  of  America. 

Our  soil  infertile.  Hardly  does  any  land  furnish  its  inhabitants 
comfort  or  luxury  that  ours  does  not  yield  for  us.  Our  valleys 
wave  with  corn,  our  hills  are  white  with  harvests,  and  our  very 
mountains,  to  their  highest  cliffs,  feed  our  flocks.  Till  God  shall 
become  angry,  and  shall  forbid  the  showers  to  enrich  our  fields, 
we  never  need  be  dependant  for  our  bread  or  clothing  on  any  other 


NOT  OBEDIENTLY  RECIPROCATED.  385 

nation.  What  one  region  of  our  country  does' not  produce,  grows 
abundantly  in  some  other. 

And  we  draw  sustenance  from  our  bays  and  rivers.  Thus  were 
uthe  fields  to  yield  no  meat,  arid  should  the  herd  be  cut  off  from 
the  stall,"  we  should  be  still  supplied.  On  this  point  every  rea- 
sonable desire  is  satisfied,  and  every  ground  of  fear  removed. 

To  fertility  God  has  added  beauty.  Ours  is  all  that  rich  variety 
of  scenery  which  can  please  the  eye  or  charm  the  heart.  Our  ex- 
tensive plains,  encircled  with  cultivated  hills,  watered  with  mean- 
dering streams,  and  opening  upon  the  traveler  as  he  reaches  the 
eminence,  afford  prospects  the  most  enchanting.  If  any  doubt 
whether  our  land  is  beautiful,  ask  the  Christian,  who,  in  some 
favored  hour,  ascended  the  mountain,  and  felt  his  soul  rise  from 
the  broad-spread  landscape  to  the  God  who  planned  and  built  the 
scene  ; — ask  him  if  "  our  lines  have"  not  "  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant 
places."  Ask  the  mariner,  who  has  been  shipwrecked  upon  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and  has  seen  the  sable  tribes  making  a  delicious 
meal  on  reptiles — ask  him  if  we  have  not  a  goodly  heritage.  Ask 
the  traveler  who  has  scorched  his  feet  in  Arabian  deserts,  and  has 
climbed  the  Ararat,  if  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Lord  to  us  are 
not  great.  Ask  one,  if  you  please,  who  has  seen  the  lawns  and 
parks  of  polished  Europe,  if  nature  has  not  furnished  our  America 
with  richer  lawns  and  nobler  parks.  Will  it  not  excite  gratitude 
to  compare  our  country  in  point  of  beauty ,  with  any  regidft  of  the 
globe  1  What  was  once  said  of  England  is  more  true  of  America. 
u  It  is  a  paradise  of  pleasure^  the  garden  of  God.  Our  vales  are 
like  Eden,  our  hills  as  Lebanon,  our  springs  as  Pisgah,  our 
rivers  as  Jordan,  our  walls  the  ocean,  and  our  defence  the  Lord 
Jehovah." 

Nor  is  any  portion  of  the  globe,  to  the  same  extent,  more 
healthful.  From  the  eternal  snows  of  the  north,  and  from  the 
sultry  heats  and  deadly  blasts  of  the  south,  we  are  well  removed. 
The  longevity  of  our  grand  parents,  recorded  on  yonder  tomb- 
stones ;  the  many  in  our  assembly  today,  on  whom  is  seen  the 
blossom  of  the  almond-tree,  bear  witness  that  God  has  blessed  with 
health  and  long  life,  his  American  Israel.  The  numbers  who  can 
be  spared  from  the  sick  and  dying  bed,  to  wait  on  God  this  morn- 
ing in  this  house,  bear  testimony  to  the  salubrity  of  our  clime.  Yes, 
God  has  fraught  every  gale  with  life,  and  has  wafted  health  to  us 
in  every  breeze.  The  effects  of  his '  bounty  are  seen  in  every 
countenance,  and  felt  in  every  nerve. 

In  all  this  God  has  acted  the  part  of  a  kind  Father ;  has  nourish- 
49 


386  THE    MERCIES    OF    GOD 

ed  and  brought  us  up  as  children.  The  land  of  Canaan,  although 
described  as  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  was  not  a  better  land. 
Nor  will  God  demand  less  of  us  than  of  Israel.  He  charges  us 
with  every  field,  every  spring,  and  every  river.  He  notes  against 
us  every  shower  that  falls  upon  our  hills,  and  every  dew  drop  that 
moistens  the  vales. 

2.  There  was  a  display  of  God's  parental  affection  in  giving  us 
existence  in  this  favored  land.  Long  had  it  been  the  lonely  haunt 
of  savages.  Our  forefathers  were  natives  of  other  realms,  realms 
now  perhaps  in  ruins.  If  God  had  not  intended  to  be  a  father  to 
us,  we  might  there  have  been  born,  and  there  have  lived,  in  the 
midst  of  oppression,  tears,  and  blood.  ,We  might  have  been 
forced  into  those  armies  which  have  perished  on  the  plains  of  Eu- 
rope, stiffened  with  December's  frosts,  or  fattening  the  soils  with 
their  blood.  But  God  had  kindnesses  in  store  for  us,  and  bid  our 
fathers  fly  to  some  other  land. 

But  whither  could  they  fly  1  When  they  first  began  to  feel  op- 
pression, America  was  unknown  in  Europe.  It  had  lain  hid  be- 
yond a  vast  expanse  of  trackless  ocean,  ever  since  it  sprang  from 
chaos.  True,  it  had  been  visited,  but  from  its  dreary  bourne,  no 
one  had  returned  to  bear  tidings.  Driven  before  the  eastern  tor- 
nado, the  wretched  had  known  its  rocky  shores  as  the  place  of 
their  midnight  shipwreck  ;  else  unknown.  But  Divine  Goodness, 
which  had  long  kept  it  in  reserve  for  us,  raised  it  into  view,  just 
at  the  moment  when  oppression  was  preparing  our  fathers  to  wish 
and  pray  for  some  asylum  where  they  and  their  children  might 
be  free.  The  immortal  Columbus  sought  our  shores.  Our  ances- 
tors followed  him,  under  the  same  Divine  escort.  And  here  we 
are  this  morning  in  a  land  of  plenty,  health,  and  freedom. 

My  hearers,  do  you  not  feel  that  God  was  kind  in  all  this  ? 
Think  then  of  the  millions,  who  are  this  day  miserably  poor,  on 
that  ground  where  we  might  have  been  wretched  paupers,  if  our 
forefathers  had  remained  at  home.  Think  of  Europe's  precious 
youth,  who  have  been  lately  torn  from  home  in  their  tender  years, 
to  man  the  navy  and  fill  the  armies.  Think  of  the  fathers,  who 
now  need  sons  to  prop  their  age,  but  have  lost  them  in  battle.  Ah  ! 
and  mothers,  more  helpless  still,  without  a  child  remaining  to  so- 
lace their  widowhood.  See  that  band  of  females  !  they  have  been 
to  the  shore  to  salute  their  husbands,  but  they  return  in  despair  ; 
their  husbands  have  fallen  in  the  field.*  Think  of  the  pleasant 

*  A  scene  actually  witnessed  not  long  since  in  England,  on  the  return  from 
Spain  of  a  remnant  of  Lord  Wellington's  army. 


NOT  OBEDIENTLY    RECIPROCATED.  387 

cottages  wrapped  in  flames  by  the  torches  of  a  desolating  army. 
Recollect  the  sufferings  of  that  little  Swiss  Republic,  to  whom 
liberty  was  so  dear,  that  mothers  left  their  infants  under  the  oak, 
and  fought  and  fell  by  the  side  of  their  husbands.  While  humanity 
bleeds  over  these  scenes  of  distress,  let  piety  raise  to  heaven  a 
tearful  eye,  and  say,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is 
within  me  bless  his  holy  name." 

3.  As  a  parent  his  children,  the  Lord  has  instructed  us.     We 
were  from  infancy  taught  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and  were  early 
placed  under  the  droppings  of  the  sanctuary.     Many  of  us  have 
been  devoted  to  God  in  baptism,  and  have  thus  been  made  mem- 
bers of  the  school  of  Christ.     Pious  parents  have  whispered  truth 
in  our  ears.      Ever  have  we  had  line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon 
precept.     In  no  other  quarter  of  the  globe  have   all  classes  the 
means  of  instruction.     And  in  this  matter  has  not  the  Lord  been  a 
kind  Father  1     If  a  doubt  remains,  think  of  those  crowds   of  Pa- 
pists, who  through  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures,  pray  to  departed 
saints,  and  tender  gold  for  the  pardon  of  sin  !     See  those  hordes 
of  Mahometans,  stupid  as  the  beast,  till  their  infuriated  passions 
arouse  them  to  spill  a  brother's  blood.     Think  of  the  millions  of 
Pagan  tribes,  who  to  this  day  worship  a  block  of  wood.     Yes, 
think  of  the  hundreds  of  millions,  who  never  saw  a  Bible,  who 
never  enjoyed  a  Sabbath,  and  to  whom  no  kind  angel  of  mercy 
ever  carried  proffers  of  pardon.     Think  of  these  things,  and  you 
cannot  doubt  the  fatherly  kindness  of  God  in  providing  for  our 
instruction. 

4.  God  has  exercised  parental  love  in  defending  our  country  in 
times  of  danger.     Our  whole  history,  from  the  first  landing  of  our 
forefathers,  is  but  one  continued,  affecting  account  of  God's  care 
of  them  and  us.     When  that  first  ship  brought  that  little  band  of 
persecuted  Christians,  and  landed  them,  in  the  midst  of  winter,  on 
Plymouth's  bleak,  inhospitable  coast, — when  they  there  kindled 
their  first  fire,  amidst  howling  beasts  and  yelling  savages, — when 
they  there  fell  on  their  knees,   and  to  heaven  raised  their  eyes, 
streaming  with  tears, — when  they  covered  their  little  babes  with 
leaves  blown  from  the  trees  of  autumn,  and  stationed  a  sentinel  to 
watch  the  foe ;  how  could  it  be  doubted  but  that  they  would  be 
driven  from  the  land  they  had  reached  1     Who  could  have  predict- 
ed or  would  have  dared  to  hope,  that  God  would  soon  give  them 
peaceable  possession  of  all  this  extensive  country  1 

And  afterward,  when  the  savage  band  conspired  to  destroy  that 
little  company  of  strangers, — when  the  scalping  knife  was  raised 


388  THE    MERCIES    OF    GOD 

over  the  slumbers  of  the  cradle, — when  the  savage  yell  disturbed 
the  midnight  dream,  and  the  angry  flames  were  consuming  the  lit- 
tle thatched  hovels  where  our  mothers  slept,  who  could  have 
thought  that  God  intended  so  soon  to  give  the  word,  and  bid 
those  savages  retire  to  the  western  forests  1 — who  could  have 
believed,  or  dreamed,  that  those  miserable  hovels  would  in  a  few 
years  be  exchanged  for  these  beautiful  mansions  which  now  adorn 
our  land  1 

And  when,  afterward,  the  merciless  Frenchmen  bore  down  upon 
us  from  the  north,  and  in  the  west  hired  against  us  the  bloody 
tomahawk, — when  their  ships  of  war  covered  our  lakes,  and  spread 
destruction  along  our  Atlantic  shores,  and  the  savage  band  broke 
in  upon  our  frontiers,  each  pressed  on  by  infernal  fury  ;  who  could 
have  thought  that  heaven  designed,  by  this  war,  to  prepare  us  for 
future  conflicts,  and  raise  us  up  an  immortal  Washington  to  be  the 
future  savior  of  our  country. 

And  when,  at  length,  the  very  land  that  gave  us  birth  became 
hostile ; — when  her  floating  purgatories  thundered  on  our  coast, 
and  burned  our  cities,  and  her  hard  hearted  veterans  were  ravag- 
ing our  country,  stripping  our  fathers  of  their  flocks  and  herds, 
and  our  mothers  of  their  well-earned  food,  and  of  the  couch  on 
which  they  dared  not  rest,  and  could  not  sleep  ; — when  at  length 
we  were  forced  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  sword,  and  our  little 
companies  of  undisciplined  troops  were  rallying  round  their  Gen- 
eral;— when  our  fathers  began  to  fall  in  the  high  places  of  the 
field,  and  our  mothers,  with  some  of  us  infants  in  their  arms,  fled 
from  the  foe,  and  saw  him  burn  their  dwellings  ; — when  at  length 
the  temples  of  the  living  God  were  converted  into  barracks,  pro- 
faned with  the  soldier's  oath,  and  dissipated  night  with  their  blaz- 
ing spires  ; — when  the  meek  ambassador  of  the  cross*  must  die 
for  loving  his  country,  and  for  wishing  to  be  free  ;  and  when  all 
hearts  began  to  ache  and  to  bleed,  and  Heaven  had  not  yet  begun 
to  give  us  the  victory, — in  this  trying  hour,  who  would  have 
thought  that  God  intended  so  soon  to  deliver  us  from  the  oppress- 
ive yoke  of  our  parent  country,  and  make  us  an  independent  and 
happy  republic. 

While  we  look  round  us,  and  see  some  present,  who  still  wear 
the  scars  they  received  in  that  perilous  hour,  we  feel  emotions  of 
gratitude  which  we  cannot  suppress.  Yes,  fathers  I  while  we 
bless  God  for  being  our  rock  of  defence  in  the  desperate  hour,  we 

*  Mr.  Caldwell,  of  Elizabeth-Town. 


NOT   OBEDIENTLY    RECIPEOCATED.  389 

thank  you  for  the  efforts  you  made  to  earn  and  deliver  to  us  the 
fair  inheritance  of  freedom.  We  never  will,  no  never  !  forget 
your  toils  and  dangers.  We  will  cherish  you  in  your  declining 
years,  and  when  you  are  dead,  we  will  lead  our  infant  children  to 
your  graves,  and  tell  them  the  history  of  your  sufferings  in  the 
cause  of  freedom.  But,  fathers,  while  we  thank  you  that  you 
fought  in  Israel's  hosts,  we  entreat  you  to  love  Israel's  God.  And 
ye  aged  mothers,  you  fled  with  us  from  the  malice  of  the  foe  : 
O  !  flee  with  us  from  the  wrath  to  come  ! 

Here  I  could  stay  and  mention  other  mercies  till  the  sun  had 
gone  down.  God  has  given  us  a  happier  form  of  government 
than  is  now  enjoyed  in  any  other  portion  of  the  globe.  Life,  pro- 
perty, and  the  rights  of  conscience  are  secure.  Parents  are  not 
constrained  to  send  their  children,  at  the  call  of  a  tyrant,  to  be 
trained  up  to  the  art  of  murder.  As  yet  we  have  suffered  but  lit- 
tle by  the  present  distressing  war.  The  foe  has  destroyed  others  ; 
fellow-citizens  have  spilt  their  blood  in  the  field,  and  others  have 
lost  their  all,  while  we  are  unmolested.  Nor  have  we  felt  the  dis- 
tresses of  famine.  .The  poorest  among  us  have  bread,  while,  in 
our  world,  aud  doubtless  in  some  parts  of  our  land,  there  are  those 
who  are  destitute.  God  has  kept  us  too  from  those  plagues  and 
pestilences  which  have  desolated  other  countries.  Our  breezes 
are  yet  laden  with  health.  O  how  good  is  the  Lord  ! 

And  we  could  tell  of  individual  blessings.  God  has  guarded  our 
lives.  In  the  midst  of  a  thousand  snares  we  have  been  safely 
kept.  Who  can  say  why  we  have  not  been  numbered  among  the 
millions  dead,  or  the  thousands  now  in  the  agonies  of  dissolution. 
Every  day  and  every  hour  have  our  lives  been  forfeited.  If  God 
had  bidden  us  die  any  morning  or  any  evening,  he  had  still  been 
just  and  good.  But  he  yet  allows  our  blood  to  flow  warm  in  our 
veins,  and  the  heart  to  beat  high  with  life  in  our  bosoms.  In  all 
this  how  strong  a  testimony  of  the  Divine  goodness  ! 

But  our  wonder  must  increase.  God  has  not  only  spared  us, 
and  defended  us  from  harm,  but  has  with  his  bounty  rendered  our 
lives  comfortable  and  happy.  We  have  been  surrounded  with 
every  thing  that  could  sweeten  life.  Our  friends  have  smiled  upon 
us  and  loved  us.  "  God  has  fed  us  with  the  finest  of  wheat,  and 
with  the  honey  out  of  the  rock  has  he  satisfied  us."  We  have  sat 
peaceably  in  our  dwellings,  and  have  seen  the  rich  harvests  ripen- 
ing in  our  fields,  while  other  dwellings  have  resounded  with  dying 
groans,  and  other  fields  have  been  fattened  with  human  gore.  Thus 
God  has  employed  his  wisdom  and  power  in  making  rebels  happy. 


390  THE   MERCIES    OF    GOD 

If  all  this  does  not  excite  our  gratitude,  the  beasts  of  the  stall  will 
find  a  tongue  to  reproach  us :  for  "  the  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and 
the  ass  his  master's  crib." 

But,  to  crown  our  other  mercies,  to  blacken  our  ingratitude,  and 
raise  our  wonder  to  its  climax,  God  offers  us  eternal  life  through 
his  Son.  We  are  pressed  with  the  obligations  of  dying  love.  The 
Holy  Spirit,  with  kind  intent,  has  come  down  among  us.  Through 
all  the  past  year  he  has  been  knocking  at  the  door  of  some  of  our 
hearts.  And  perhaps  many  present  have  continued  to  reject 
his  kindest  entreaties.  And  still  Divine  compassion  waits  to 
save. 

»  Thus  after  our  cup  has  run  over  with  earthly  blessings,  God  has 
opened  to  us  all  the  treasures  of  heaven.  First  he  fills  our  table 
with  his  fruits,  and  his  wines,  and  then  invites  us  to  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb.  Here  is  unparalelled  benevolence.  No 
world  has  known  the  like.  The  angels  have  seen  nothing  like  it 
in  heaven,  devils  have  heard  of  nothing  like  it  in  hell.  That  God 
should  be  kind  to  the  good  is  to  be  expected  ;  but  that  infinite  wis- 
dom and  love  should  exhaust  their  skill  to  make  a  rebel  happy,  is 
enough  to  excite  wonder  in  the  breast  of  Gabriel. 

Having  thus  nourished  and  brought  us  up  as  children,  had  not 
the  Lord  a  right  to  expect  obedience  1  Are  we  not  the  basest  of 
creatures  if  we  do  not  love  and  serve  him  1  I  appeal  to  conscience, 
which  God  has  placed  as  his  witness,  in  your  bosom.  What  de- 
mand does  that  messenger  of  heaven  make  upon  you  to-day  ? 
Should  not  the  passing  hours  be  spent  in  God's  praise  1  If  other- 
wise employed,  will  not  the  God  of  Israel  be  angry  1  And  yet  we 
know  that  none  will  give  him  praise  but  those  who  love  him.  All 
others  will  profane  this  day,  and  thus  provoke  his  wrath.  I  pro- 
ceed to  the  other  part  of  my  subject. 

II.  While  God  has  been  exhibiting  all  this  parental  affection,  we 
have  rebelled  against  him.  Every  breach  of  God's  law,  every  de- 
parture from  duty,  every  unholy  affection  and  improper  action  is 
rebellion.  In  our  case,  as  in  that  of  Judah,  when  God  complained 
by  the  prophet,  we  exhibit  degeneracy  as  well  as  rebellion.  We 
have  departed  from  the  piety  and  rectitude  of  our  forefathers.  J 
shall  at  present  mention  some  of  the  prevailing  sins  of  our  land, 
by  which  it  is  manifest  that  we  are  both  a  degenerate  and  rebellious 
people.  And  while  I  proceed,  every  one  must  allow  his  con- 
science to  do  its  office.  It  is  to  no  purpose  that  the  gospel  is 
preached,  unless  the  truth  is  felt. 


NOT   OBEDIENTLY   RECIPROCATED.  391 

The  first  sin  I  mention  as  proving  our  degeneracy  and  rebellion, 
is  the  want  of  family  religion  in  our  land :  instance  family  prayer. 
While  we  are  commanded  to  pray  with  all  manner  of  prayer,  lift- 
ing up  holy  hands  to  God,  many  families  entirely  neglect  the  duty. 
From  no  domestic  altar  ascends  their  morning  and  evening  sacri- 
fice. They  rise  with* the  sun,  and  address  themselves  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  day,  without  asking  God  to  watch  or  guide  them.  I 
fear  some  of  my  hearers  did  not  pray  in  their  families  this  morning. 
•God  only  knows.  And  no  doubt  as  many  will  retire  this  evening, 
without  thanking  God  'for  preserving  goodness,  or  engaging  any 
heavenly  guard  to  watch  the  sleeping  pillow.  Now  if  parents  do 
not  pray  in  their  families,  we  cannot  hope  that  they  do  it  in  their 
closets.  That  parent  who  finds  secret  prayer  delightful,  will  en- 
deavor by  example  to  teach  his  children  prayer.  It  is  reported 
that  some  professors  of  religion  have  no  prayer  in  their  families, 
and  ask  no  blessing  over  their  food.  Some  are  said  to  pray  only 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  ask  a  blessing  over  one  meal  in  the  day.  Why 
not,  with  the  same  propriety,  pray  once  in  the  year,  and  ask  only 
an  annual  blessing  over  the  ingathered  harvest  1  This  would  cut 
the  business  short. 

In  this  point  we  have  degenerated.  It  is  said  that  among  our 
forefathers  there  was  no  family  without  a  domestic  altar,  no  little 
helpless  immortals  without  a  father's  prayers.  They  partook  not 
of  the  Divine  bounty  till  they  had  blessed  the  Giver.  Could  they 
return  they  would  blush  to  own  their  offspring. 

How  can  the  Christian  neglect  duties  so  plain  ]  How  can  the 
father,  whose  title  implies  the  warmest  affection,  let  his  children 
retire  at  night,  till  he  has  committed  them  to  the  care  of  God  1  If 
neglected  by  the  father,  how  can  the  mother,  a  name  yet  more 
tender,  lay  her  little  ones  upon  their  pillows,  till  she  has  put  them 
under  the  care  of  the  Watchman  of  Israel.  How  do  careless  pa- 
rents know  that  their  children  will  live  till  the  morning  1  And 
should  they  die  on  that  night,  when  they  were  not  the  subjects  of 
parental  prayer,  how  must  those  parents  feel  1  With  what  heart- 
rending anguish  must  they  convey  their  bodies  to  the  grave.  The 
neglect  of  this  duty  in  particular,  and  of  family  religion  in  general, 
is  doubtless  a  crying  sin,  which  proves  our  apostacy  and  rebellion, 
and  must  draw  down  Divine  judgments. 

2.  Another  common  sin,  equally  manifesting  degeneracy  and  re- 
bellion, is  the  neglect  of  discipline  in  families  and  churches.  Many 
families  have  no  government.  The  children  never  feel  restraint, 
and  so  never  learn  obedience.  The  consequence  is,  they  often 


392  THE    MERCIES   OF    GOD 

despise  their  parents,  and  prove  scourges  to  society.  The  world 
is  the  loser  by  their  existence.  They  live  only  to  cumber  the 
ground,  and  reproach  their  parents.  How  ashamed  ought  parents 
to  be  of  such  children !  and  how  afraid  should  society  be  of  such 
parents ! 

In  Churches  the  same  neglect  of  discipline  prevails.  Some, 
who  have  no  pretensions  to  heart  religion,  are  admitted  to  the 
communion.  Many  are  seen  there  who  are  not  moral.  Yes  !  the 
the  lips  of  profaneness  touch  the  symbols  of  a  dying  Christ ! 
Hands  polluted  with  the  intoxicating  bowl,  and  trembling  under  its 
dire  effects,  are  moved  to  the  sacred  cup  !  The  scorner,  in  many 
places,  takes  his  seat  among  the  followers  of  the  Lamb !  The 
very  disciples  of  Iscariot,  who  envy  Jesus  a  throne  with  the  Father, 
and  would  pluck  every  gem  from  his  crown ;  who  trample  upon 
truth  ;  and  would  gladly  extirpate  the  Church,  or  at  least  kindle  a 
hell  in  her  bosom — these  come  forward,  with  a  brazen  front,  and 
commemorate  the  dying  love  of  Christ !  Were  He  to  come  and 
put  himself  again  in  the  power  of  sinners,  would  not  many  of  our 
communicants  leave  the  sacrament  and  go  to  crucify  him  1  In  the 
days  of  our  forefathers,  there  was  not  this  want  of  discipline. 
Every  family  was  a  little  Church,  in  which  pious  parents  bent 
every  effort  to  make  their  children  like  themselves.  Departure 
from  duty  met  reproof.  The  child  who  would  disobey  a  parent, 
disrespect  superiors,  disturb  devotion,  or  profane  the  Name  of 
God,  would  meet  the  frowns  of  his  play-fellows. 

The  church-member  who  walked  disorderly  was  reproved,  and 
at  once  either  reclaimed  or  cut  off.  None  came  to  the  Lord's  ta- 
ble, who  were  not  strictly  moral  and  hopefully  pious.  They  had 
no  idea,  in  those  days,  that  unrenewed  men  had  any  right  to  the 
children's  bread.  If  they  were  correct,  we  are  degenerate.  It 
would  be  happy  for  the  Church  and  the  world,  if  that  golden  age 
could  return.  And  return  it  must ;  discipline  must  be  administer- 
ed, before  there  will  be  a  reformation  of  morals,  or  any  extensive 
revival  of  religion  in  our  land.  And  have  we  not  reason  to  believe 
that  a  reformation  in  this  matter  must  precede  the  removal  of  those 
judgments  which  we  begin  to  feel.  If  God  frowned  because  he 
disapproved,  why  smile  till  he  approve  ? 

3.  The  profanation  of  the  Sabbath' is  another  general  sin,  proving 
us  degenerate  and  rebellious.  Once  that  day  was  respected  in  Ame- 
rica. The  man  who  did  not  regard  the  Sabbath  was  not  esteemed. 
The  person  who  walked  the  streets  on  that  day,  unless  to  or  from 


NOT    OBEDIENTLY    RECIPROACTED.  393 

the  house  of  God,  was  considered  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace.* 
Then  the  waterman  anchored  his  vessel  in  the  harbor,  till  the  hours 
of  Sabbath  were  by ;  the  traveler  delayed  his  journey,  and  the 
young  laid  aside  their  pastimes.  Now  the  sailor  begins  his  voy- 
age, the  traveler  pursues  his  journey,  young  man  their  pleasures, 
and  children  their  sports  on  that  sacred  day.  On  many  public 
streets  the  way  to  the  temple  is  obstructed  with  teams,  and  as 
you  enter  the  very  doors  of  the  sanctuary,  your  ears  are  assailed 
with  the  oaths  of  the  heaven-abandoned  teamsters.  The  inn- 
keeper and  his  family  can  never  hear  the  gospel ;  they  might  as 
well  live  in  India :  they  must  be  at  home  to  serve  the  Sabbath- 
breaker.  In  many  parts  of  our  land  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath  is 
not  regarded. 

And  there  are  none  who  dare  oppose  this  flood  of  corruption. 
One  plea  is,  there  are  no  laws.  If  we  Jhave  no  laws  sufficient  to 
enforce  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  our  legislators  refuse 
to  enact  any,  we  must  be  a  very  corrupt  people  ;  if  we  have,  and 
dare  not  enforce  them,  then  our  corruption  is  incurable.  In  either 
case,  vye  have  a  striking  demonstration  that  we  are  a  rebellious 
and  degeneTate  people. 

4.  "  Because  of  swearing  the  land  mourneth."     This  sin  proves 
us  degenerate  and  rebellious.     The  profane  oath  used  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  public  prosecution.     Men  dared  not  take  in  vain  the  name 
of  the  Lord  their  God.     When  respect  for  the  great  Jehovah  did 
not  restrain,  the  fear  of  man  did.     But  the  gold  has  become  dim. 
In  many  awful  instances,  the  child  who   has  just  begun  to  speak, 
is  taught  to  swear.     The  evening  streets  profanely  echo  with  the 
names  of  the  eternal  God.     The  inn,  formerly  the  peaceable  asy- 
lum of  the   pious    traveler,  is  now  often  rendered  intolerable  by 
resounding  oaths  and  curses.     What  sin  can  be  more  daring  ]     It 
is  a  direct  attack  upon  a  holy  God.     It  evinces  a  heart  desperately 
rebellious.     Its  prevalence  evinces  a  state  of  society  monstrously 
degenerate. 

5.  Another  sin,  equally  proving   us  rebellious  and  degenerate,  is 
intemperance-!     This  is  a  growing  sin,  which  should  alarm  every 
friend  to  human  happiness.     It  prevails  among  both  sexes,!  and  in 

*  In  one  of  the  largest  States  in  the  Union,  a  public  officer  stopped  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, as  he  was  walking  out  on  the  Sabbath,  and  obliged  him  to 
return. 

t  It  is  credibly  reported,  that  in  the  first  settlement  of  this  country,  spirituous 
liquor  was  kept  only  by  the  apothecaries,  as  a  medicine. 

|  It    is   ascertained  to  be  fact,  that  under  the   pretence  of  the  sick  headache, 
many  ladies  of  fashion  retire  to  sleep  off  the  fumes  of  excessive  drinking. 
50 


394  THE    MERCIES    OF    GOD 

all  classes  of  society.  Numberless  families  in  our  country  are 
rendered  miserable  by  this  unnatural  iniquity.  To-day  they  are 
happy  and  useful,  to-morrow  lost.  Intemperate  creatures  are  now 
found  in  every  place.  They  corne  to  our  holy  communion,  they 
are  entrusted  with  public  offices,  they  officiate  in  our  churches, 
and  have,  in  some  distressing  instances,  made  their  way  into  the 
sacred  desk,  and  have  there  stood  in  the  place  of  God's  ambas- 
.sador. 

6.  Another  sin  which  proves  us  degenerate  and  rebellious,  is  the 
existence  of  two  hostile  political  parties.  The  manner  in  which 
these  parties  treat  each  other,  prove  us  a  vicious  race.  Each 
accuses  the  other  of  designing  the  ruin  of  his  country,  of  being 
vile,  and  false,  and  under  foreign  influence.  Now  if  both  divisions 
speak  truth,  in  bringing  this  charge,  then  we  are  all  an  abandoned 
people ;  if  one  party  only  speak  truth,  still  about  half  of  us  are 
irrecoverably  lost ;  and  if  neither  keep  the  truth,  then  "  all  men 
are  liars."  Take  either  ground,  and  we  are  a  wicked  race.  An 
unhappy  result  of  this  political  division  is,  that  we  have  corrupted 
the  press.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  learn  truth  from  the-  public 
gazettes.  By  party  prejudice  and  rage,  facts  are  discolored.  The 
honest  man  dares  not  confide  in  what  he  reads.  On  either  side 
the  plainest  facts  are  sometimes  obstinately  and  perseveringly  de- 
nied : — I  do  not  charge  it  all  to  the  editors,  nor  dare  I  attempt  to 
exonerate  them. 

Once  things  were  not  so.  Our  fathers  knew  but  one  party  : 
they  were  Americans.  They  contended  only  for  the  interests  of 
their  own  country.  Every  public  paper  was  the  vehicle  of  truth. 
If  one  said,  "  I  saw  it  written  thus  in  the  newspaper"  there  were 
none  to  contradict.  Nothing  was  written  there  that  was  not  be- 
lieved to  be  truth.  But  that  golden  age  is  gone.  Truth,  unable 
to  breathe  our  polluted  atmosphere,  has  taken  its  flight.  As  if 
the  tongue,  that  "  world  of  iniquity,"  could  not  sufficiently  dis- 
perse falsehood,  men  have  taught  the  paper  and  ink  to  lie  ;  and 
yet  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence,  that  there  may  not  be  on 
both  sides  of  the  question,  the  firmest  friends  and  vilest  enemies 
of  their  country. 

Here  I  could  enumerate  many  other  sins ;  among  which  are 
conspicuous  a  disposition  in  professors  of  religion  to  conform  to 
the  world,  the  little  regard  paid  to  an  oath,  a  proneness  in  minis- 
ters to  seek  popularity  rather  than  usefulness,  to  consult  the  taste 
rather  than  the  good  of  their  hearers,  and  the  prevailing  propensity 
to  asperse  character : — I  am  ashamed  to  name  any  more. 


NOT    OBEDIENTLY    RECIPROCATED.  395 

These  sins  have  offended  God,  and  he  has  come  out  of  his  holy 
place  to  punish  us.  ,  If  we  do  not  repent,  how  can  we  hope  that 
God  will  not  treat  us  as  he  has  other  wicked  nations,  and  discharge 
upon  us,  ultimately,  the  full  vials  of  his  wrath.  Is  there  not  occa- 
sion ,why  this  day  should  be  devoted  to  God  1  If  he  be  for  us, 
none  can  be  against  us ;  but  if  God  forsake  us,  we  are  as  stubble, 
arid  can  be  trodden  down  by  any  foe  that  he  may  commission. 
And  can  we  hope  that  he  will  continue  to  protect  us,  when  disci- 
pline and  prayer  are  neglected  ;  when  the  name,  the  worship,  the 
Sabbath,  and  the  sacred  honor  of  God  are  disregarded  j  and  when 
every  sin  that  can  be  named  prevails  1  Will  he  continue  to  shield 
us  by  his  power,  when  no  longer  his  people  1  Will  he  be  "  a  wall 
of  fire  round  about  us,"  when  no  longer  u  the  glory  in  the  midst 
of  us  V  As  the  Lord  liveth,  our  sins  have  placed  us  in  danger. 

Is  it  not  then  a  time  when  all  classes  of  men  should  fear  before 
the  Lord  1  Ought  not  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  to  take  their 
stand  between  the  porch  and  the  altar,  and  cry,  with  incessant 
tears,  "  Lord,  spare  thy  people,  and  give  not  thy  heritage  to  re- 
proach." Have  they  not  reason  to  fear  that  the  ark  of  God  may 
be  taken  from  us,  and  carried  to  the  heathen  1  Alas  !  if  we  look 
round  us  must  we  not  fear  that  the  divine  glory  is  now  hovering 
over  the  threshold,  in  the  attitude  of  departing.  Since  our  iniqui- 
ties put  us  in  danger,  may  every  watchman  be  awake  upon  his 
watch-tower,  and  be  ready  to  give  the  alarm,  that  if  he  cannot 
save  others,  he  may  at  least  free  his  own  skirts  from  the  blood  of 
souls. 

And  shall  not  parents,  who  look  forward  to  the  destinies  of  a 
rising  offspring,  which  they  are  about  to  leave  in  the  midst  of  dan- 
gers like  these ;  parents  to  whom  God  has  committed  in  charge 
souls  more  precious  than  material  worlds, — shall  they  not  this  day 
mourn  over  their  own  sins  and  the  sins  of  their  children  1  Shall 
they  not  bring  them  in  faith  and  prayer  to  the  arms  of  a  compas- 
sionate God.  My  dear  fathers  and  mothers,  soon  opportunity  to 
pray  for  your  children  will  be  gone.  Your  withering  locks  will 
soon  lie  in  the  dust.  We  do  hope  that  before  your  dissolution  ar- 
rives, we  shall  be  the  subjects  of  your  earnest  prayers.  We  en- 
treat you  to  pray  for  us  to-day. 

My  Christian  friends,  it  will  become  us  to  lie  low  in  the  dust 
to-day,  and  to  review  all  our  sins,  by  which  perhaps  we  have  stum- 
bled the  impenitent,  and  provoked  our  kind  Redeemer.  Think, 
brethren,  of  the  impending  dangers.  Everything  dear  to  the  pious 
heart  is  at  stake  ;  the  country  bought  with  the  blood  of  our  fathers  ; 


396  THE    MERCIES    OF    GOD    NOT    OBEDIENTLY    RECIPROCATED. 

yes,  and  the  American  Churches  bought  with  richer  blood.  As 
we  inquire  now  respecting  the  seven  Churches  of  Asia,  others 
may,  another  day,  inquire,  "  Where  are  now  the  once  flourishing 
Churches  of  America  1"  O,  is  this  ground,  made  sacred  by  the 
impress  of  a  Savior's  feet,  to  be  trodden  down  by  a  savage  band  1 
Is  this  temple  of  God  to  become,  ever,  a  Mahometan  mosque. 
After  God  has  baptized  it  with  his  Spirit,  will  he  suffer  it  to  be- 
come a  heathen  temple  1  "  O !  tell  it  not  in  Gath !  Publish  it  not 
in  the  streets  of  Askelon  !"  The  enemies  of  truth  will  triumph. 
Christians,  pray  this  day  for  Zion.  Go  to  your  closets,  while 
others  are  abusing  the  day,  and  deplore  the  prevailing  iniquities, 
and  weep  over  a  people,  who  by  their  sins,  are  destroying  them- 
selves. Tf  God  will  not  forgive  us,  and  still  be  for  us,  we  die.  And 
the  prayers  of  the  saints  must  bring  the  blessing  down. 

One  word  to  the  impenitent.  This  is  an  important  day  for  you, 
but  I  fear  that  some  of  you  may  this  day  do  your  souls  much  injury. 
The  saints  consider  your  danger  very  great,  and  many  a  prayer  has 
ascended  this  morning  from  the  "  dwellings  of  Jacob"  in  your  be- 
half. If  ruin  comes  upon  our  land,  you  have  no  place  of  refuge. 
The  Christian  has  a  strong  tower,  into  which  he  can  run  and  be 
safe  ;  but  destruction  will  overtake  you  if  out  of  Christ.  O ! 
what  need  have  you  to  be  afflicted,  and  mourn,  and  weep !  All 
your  sins  are  still  written  against  you.  Not  one  of  all  the  myri- 
ads is  pardoned.  See  to  it  that  you  do  not  act  today  so  as  to  pro- 
voke God  to  anger,  and  perhaps  induce  him  to  abandon  you  for 
ever.  May  we  all  so  spend  the  day  as  to  do  our  country  good, 
and  promote  our  future  eternal  blessedness. 


SERMON    XXXIV. 

THE  INDUSTRIOUS  YOUNG  PROPHETS. 

ISAIAH   VI.    1-3. 

And  the  sons  of  the  prophets  said  unto  Elisha,  Behold  now,  the  place  where  we  dwell  with 
thee  is  too  strait  for  us.  Let  us  go,  we  pray  thee,  unto  Jordan,  and  take  there  every  man  a  beam, 
and  let  us  make  us  a  place  there  where  we  may  dwell.  And  he  answered.  Go  ye.  And  one  said, 
Be  content,  I  pray  tbee,  and  go  with  thy  servants,  and  he  answered,  I  will  go. 

ABOUT  nine  hundred  years  before  Christ,  there  was  at  Jericho  or 
Gilgal,  some  place  near  to  Jordan,  a  school  of  the  prophets,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  the  worthy  and  venerable  Elisha.  The  govern- 
ment of  Israel  was  in  the  hands  of  Jehoram,  a  degenerate  son  of 
the  impious  Ahab.  It  was  a  time  of  general  corruption;  the 
prophets  were  treated  with  neglect ;  and  the  honors  due  to  God 
were  given  to  an  idol.  Still  the  prophets  were  employed  in  pro- 
moting the  worship  of  God,  and  their  number  increased  till  they 
had  occasion  to  enlarge  the  place  of  their  tent.  In  the  simple  and 
interesting  history  of  this  enterprise,  we  learn,  that  the  prophets, 
though  poor,  and  not  held  in  very  high  estimation  in  that  degene- 
rate age,  were  pious,  honest,  and  industrious. 

They  seem  to  have  dwelt  together,  that  under  the  tuition  of 
their  honored  father,  they  might  become  prepared  to  teach  and 
prophecy  in  Israel  and  the  neighboring  countries.  They  were,  no 
doubt,  at  this  time,  frequently  consulted  by  the  leaders  of  Israel, 
notwithstanding  their  degeneracy  and  corruption. 

I  presume  it  can  need  no  apology,  if  I  glance  from  this  school  of 
the  prophets  to  the  education  of  a  gospel  ministry.  O  could  I,  in 
the  transition,  bring  with  me  into  gospel  times  the  faith  of  Eli- 
sha, and  transfer  into  my  audience  the  zeal  of  his  associates ! 
Then  the  building  we  propose  to  erect  would  soon  rise,  and  the 
Church,  down  to  the  latest  ages,  feel  and  rejoice  in  the  benevolent 
enterprise.  I  shall  take  occasion  to  remark  in  the 

First  place,  That,  up  to  this  moment,  very  inadequate  provision  is 
made  for  replenishing  the  gospel  ministry.  This  treasure  is  commit- 
ted to  earthen  vessels ;  ministers  are  dying  men.  When  we  have 
served  the  Church  a  few  days,  we  go  the  way  of  all  the  earth,  and 

*  Delivered  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Ajnherst  College,  Aug.  9, 1820. 


398  THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS. 

the  places  that  knew  us  know  us  no  more  for  ever.  But  the 
Churches  must  still  have  a  ministry ;  and  that  ministry  be  com- 
posed of  men,  not  angels  ;  men  educated  by  human  means,  not  inspired 
with  miraculous  gifts.  Hence  there  must  be  made  a  perpetual 
effort  to  create  this  supply  of  pastors  and  teachers,  for  the  perfect- 
ing of  the  saints,  and  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ.  But  the 
present  ratio  of  supply  is  entirely  inadequate  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  Church.  On  this  subject  there  needs  no  other  argument  but  a 
statement  of  facts,  of  which  there  could  be  presented  a  list  that 
would  move  any  but  a  heart  of  iron.  A  very  few  of  these  facts, 
drawn  from  the  very  best  authorities,  I  will  take  the  liberty  to 
mention. 

The  nine  millions  of  souls  in  these  United  States,  have  the  ser- 
vice, it  it  believed,  of  only  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  minis- 
ters who  are  competent  to  preach  the  gospel.  But  if  instead  of 
this  number  we  had  nine  thousand,  each  must  then  have  the  care  of 
one  thousand  souls.  But  in  a  large  proportion  of  our  country,  owing 
to  the  scattered  state  of  its  population,  five  hundred  souls  would 
be  an  extensive  charge.  Hence,  nine  thousand  ministers,  in  addi- 
tion to  all  we  have,  would  be  but  a  bare  supply  for  this  district  of 
the  Church  of  Christ.  But  this  number  would  equal  that  of  the 
ministers  educated  in  times  past  in  all  the  colleges  in  the  United 
States  in  nearly  twenty  years.  While,  then,  we  might  be  prepar- 
ing this  supply,  many  ministers  will  go  to  their  graves,  and  others 
be  disabled,  and  our  population  will  have  almost  doubled. 

We  are  assured,  that  in  the  three  southernmost  of  the  Atlantic 
States,  containing,  perhaps,  a  million  and  a  half  of  souls,  there  are 
but  one  hundred  and  ten  competent  ministers  ;  while  in  one  district 
of  South  Carolina,  containing  nine  hundred  square  miles,  there  is 
but  one  place  of  worship,  and  that  not  used,  and  not  one  Christian 
church  or  minister  of  any  denomination.  In  the  Avhole  of  Indiana, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Missouri, 
a  .district  of  country  large  enough  for  a  continent,  and  containing 
at  least  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls,  there  are  not 
twenty  competent  ministers;  of  course,  but  one  to  more  than 
twenty  thousand.  In  East  Tennessee,  there  are  in  seventeen 
counties  more  than  one  hundred  thousand,  while  fourteen  of  these 
counties  are  without  one  regular  minister  of  the  gospel.  In  the 
west  of  Virginia,  in  eight  counties,  are  forty-seven  thousand  souls 
connected  with  no  religious  society ;  and  four  whole  counties 
without  any  religious  institutions  whatever.  In  another  district 
there  are  fifty-three  thousand  souls,  in  another  twenty  thousand, 


THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG   PROPHETS.  399 

and  in  another  still  sixty  thousand,  all  in  about  the  same  deplorable 
condition.  In  Pennsylvania  there  are  extensive  districts  in  which 
there  never  was  a  school,  where  more  than  half  the  adults  can 
neither  read  nor  write,  many  never  saw  a  Bible  nor  any  book,  nor 
ever  heard  a  sermon.  One  district,  of  forty  thousand  souls,  has 
but  one  fixed  pastor.  In  the  state  of  New- York  there  could  be 
settled  immediately,  were  they  to  be  found,  two  hundred  ministers. 
And  if  we  should  survey  the  limits  of  New-England,  we  should 
see  some  dreary  moral  deserts.  In  the  two  oldest  counties  of 
New-Hampshire,  there  are  about  forty-five  towns  without  a  min- 
istry. But  I  have  not  time  to  enlarge.  Allowing  that  these  state- 
ments may  be  in  many  respects  not  exactly  correct,  still  they  are 
evidence  of  a  wide  and  fearful  desolation.  If  but  the  one  half  is 
true,  it  presents  to  the  eye  of  charity  a  moral  landscape  of  wide 
and  fearful  dimensions.* 

If  you  could  read  the  epistles  that  pour  these  complaints  into 
our  ears,  you  would  weep  if  you  ever  did,  or  would  die  with  shame, 
or  would  rise  to  a  tone  of  charity  that  many  have  not  reached. 
Now  these  desolate  places  must  be  cultivated,  these  wastes  of 
death  must  be  fertilized.  But  where  are  they  to  find  a  ministry  1 
The  common  resources  are  utterly  inadequate  to  this  home  supply. 
But  in  the  mean  time  we  need  missionaries  to  send  to  the  heathen. 
Of  these  there  are  six  hundred  millions  who  pay  their  supreme 
homage  to  stocks  and  stones.  The  United  States,  it  is  computed, 
ought  to  despatch  to  their  help  at  least  two  thousand  missionaries, 
and  will  do  it,  if  the  time  has  come,  as  we  presume  it  has,  when 
the  Christian  community,  with  the  charter  of  eternal  life  in  their 
hands,  can  sleep  no  longer. 

And  still  the  ministry  must  be  replenished  at  home.  If  the  pro- 
bability is,  that  we  shall  feel  it  our  duty  soon  to  support  among 
the  heathen,  a  number  of  missionaries  greater  than  that  of  the  min- 
isters now  within  our  limits,  pray  from  what  resource  can  we  ob- 
tain that  enormous  supply  1  To  export  the  whole  of  our  ministry, 
would  render  our  own  country  the  valley  of  death.  It  is  impossi- 
ble not  to  see  that  the  Christian  churches  have  neglected  their 
duty  too  long.  We  must  be  more  thoroughly  awake  soon,  or 
nothing  but  a  boundless  desolation  stares  us  in  the  face.  The 
wastes  of  death  are  already  so  wide  that  they  almost  outmeasure 

*  We  are  happy  to  say  that  the  state  of  things,  in  all  these  cases,  are  greatly 
altered  for  the  better,  and  that  this  institution,  notwithstanding  its  youth,  has 
had  its  full  share  in  producing  these  happy  results. 


400  THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS. 

the  hope  of  cultivation,  and  they  are  daily  augmenting  their  horrid 
circumference.  Our  children,  when  we  shall  have  done  all  that  we 
can,  are  very  likely  to  be  among  those  who  shall  cry  for  the  bread 
of  life,  and  perish  before  their  cry  is  heard.  When  they  shall 
have  attended  our  funeral,  they  may  retire  to  the  west,  and  there 
pine  away  in  their  sins,  while  there  falls  upon  their  ears  no  sound 
of  mercy,  and  their  eyes  see  not  upon  the  mountains  the  feet  of 
him  that  bringeth  glad  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace,  that  saith  to 
Zion,  Thy  God  reigneth.  We  may  miss  our  children  in  heaven, 
and  know  then,  but  know  too  late,  that  they  have  perished  through 
our  negligence.  While  we  thus  weep  over  the  fearful  delinquen- 
cies in  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  it  is  cheering  to  know, 

II.  That  we  have  the  materials  and  the  means  of  an  abundant 
supply.  When  I  speak  of  the  materials,  my  eye  is  searching  among 
the  churches  for  the  happy  subjects  of  our  late  revivals.  Many 
of  them  I  perceive  are  in  the  vale  of  poverty,  and  would  rejoice 
to  be  useful,  if  they  might  presume  to  hope  that  they  could  be 
equipped  for  the  work,  and  that  God  would  employ  them  in  his 
service.  They  are  waiting,  it  is  presumed,  till  this  institution  rise, 
and  some  kind  voice  invite  them  to  come  and  take  sanctuary  under 
its  covert.  If  they  could  equip  themselves  they  would  ;  or  if  they 
dared  to  hope  that  they  were  worthy,  they  would  pour  their  cry 
into  our  ears,  and  give  us  no  rest  till  we  had  made  them  the  reci- 
pients of  our  charity.  A  few  years  since,  if  we  had  been  awake 
to  this  interest,  it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  find  materials. 
God  had  suffered  our  youth  to  grow  up  in  unbelief,  and  thus  had 
chastised  us  for  our  negligence.  But,  anticipating  the  close  of 
our  portentous  slumber,  his  mercy  has  waked,  and  prepared  the 
rising  generation  to  be  educated,  and  employed  to  lead  to  conquest 
and  to  glory  the  sacramental  hosts  of  God's  elect.  If  we  were 
prepared  and  would  enter  to-morrow  one  hundred  upon  our  open- 
ing list  of  beneficiaries,  it  is  presumed  they  could  readily  be  found, 
and  their  hearts  would  leap  with  joy  to  know  that  they  might  be 
furnished  to  the  good  work  of  pointing  sinners  to  the  Savior. 

And  we  have  abundantly  the  means.  If  each  person  in  the 
United  States  would  give  one  cent  a  year  for  this  purpose,  it 
would  amount  to  ninety  thousand  dollars  annually,  a  sum  the 
interest  of  which  would  discharge  annually  and  for  ever  the  ex- 
penses of  more  than  fifty  beneficiaries ;  or  if  the  principal  should 
be  expended,  it  would  support  for  one  year  nine  hundred.  If  each 
church  member  in  the  United  States  should  contribute  to  this 


THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  401 

object  annually  one  dollar,  it  would  probably  raise  the  sum  of  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  support  four  thousand  students. 
Most  congregations,  beside  supporting  the  ministry,  could  defray 
the  expenses  of  one  student  annually,  and  thus  furnish  every  seven 
years  one  minister.     In  one  timely  shower  of  rain,  God  could  re- 
store all  we  had  expended  for  years  ;  or  by  warding  off  one  storm, 
could  save  for  us  a  far  greater  amount.     The  man  who  could  lose 
an  ox  every  year,  and  not  be  poor,  or  could  bear  the  expense  of 
one  fit  of  sickness,  could  pour  the  price  of  that  ox,  or  the  expenses 
of  that  visitation,  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  not  be  poor. 
But  if  half  the  number  who  could  make  this  sacrifice,  would  d<^  it, 
and  devote  the  avails  to  this  object,  we  could  very  soon  tenfold 
the  number  of  our  ministers,  and  make  the  desert  and  the  solitary 
place  glad.     If  one  can  spend  idly,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  ten 
days,  and  not  be  poor,  he  could  employ  those  days,  and  not  be 
poor,  in  earning  something  for  this  benevolent  purpose.     But  if 
half  who  actually  make  this   sacrifice   should  thus  employ  their 
time,  the  treasury  of  the  Lord  would  soon  be  full.     If  the  youth 
who  annually  spend  ten  dollars  in    mere   extravagances,  would 
give  the  one  half  of  this  expenditure  to  educate  pious  and  worthy 
young  men  for  the  gospel  ministry,  there  would  be  made  no  far- 
ther calls  upon  the  Christian  public.     If  farVners  would  cultivate 
each  a  quarter  acre  of  their  waste  lands  in  the  best  manner,  and 
give  the  proceeds  to  the  Lord,  it  would  probably  tenfold  the  sum 
that  has  usually  been  given  for  all  the  benevolent  purposes  for 
which  contributions  have  been  made.     If  the  extra  crops  of  the 
present  year,  were  devoted  to  the  Lord,  and  expended  in  thrusting 
forth  laborers  into  his  harvest,  the  fields  that  are  white  would 
soon  be  gathered  in.     Were  that   sum  saved,  which  is  annually 
lost  by  mere  negligence,  it  would  for  ever  supply  the  churches 
with  a  well-educated  ministry,  would  furnish  an  army  of  evange- 
lists, and  would  fertilize  the  wastes  of  a  moral  world.     Instead  of 
its  being  the  fact,  as  the  covetous  daily  plead,  that  our  resources 
are  exhausted,  they  are  really  yet  untouched.      The  man    can 
hardly  be  found,  who  has  denied  himself  a  comfort  to  revive  a 
famishing  world.     And,  as  it  will  always  happen,  those  who  com- 
plain the  most  have  done  the  least,  and  most  of  those  who  complain, 
have  done  nothing.     The  man  who  loves  to  do  good  with  his 
wealth  is  attentive  to  every  call  'of  charity,  and  has  made  every 
benevolent  institution  feel  the  effects  of  his  liberality  and    his 
prayers,  is  grieved  that  he  does  so  little,  and  has  never  been  heard 
to  say,  that  the  calls  upon  his  charity  have  become  so  frequent  as 
51 


4-02  THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS. 

to  be  oppressive.     That  we  have  the  means  abundantly,  of  making 
exertions  that  we  have  never  made,  none  can  doubt. 

III.  It  is  our  duty  to  use  these  means,  and  supply  ourselves  and 
others  with  a  well  educated  ministry.  The  duty  of  preparing  our- 
selves a  ministry  admits  of  no  controversy.  If  a  congregation  in 
each  thirty  or  forty  years  wears  out  a  minister  in  their  service,  it 
is  but  honest  to  calculate,  that  such  a  congregation  should,  in 
every  such  period,  in  addition  to  supporting  the  ministry  already 
in  their  employ,  educate  one,  that  the  list  may  be  kept  full.  The 
onty  question  is,  Shall  we  provide  a  surplus,  for  those  who  are 
destitute  of  a  ministry,  and  cannot  be  expected  to  supply  them- 
selves 1  A  very  little  reflection,  it  ,would  seem,  must  render  this 
matter  plain.  If  we  look  about  us  upon  the  waste  places,  we  shall 
feel  that  we  are  imperiously  urged  to  provide  them  a  supply  of 
pastors.  There  are  Churches  very  near  us,  which  have  been  so 
unhappy  as  to  lose  the  blessing  they  once  enjoyed.  Perhaps  the 
surviving  members  had  no  partnership  in  the  sin  that  stripped 
them  of  the  ministry.  They  are  begging  for  help,  would  do  all  in 
their  power  to  provide  themselves  the  gospel  and  its  ordinances  ; 
but  when  they  have  done  all  they  can  do,  they  still  hunger  for 
the  bread  of  life.  The  Domestic  Missionary  Society,  instituted 
for  their  relief,  have  assured  us,  that,  although  their  funds  have 
been  low,  much  of  the  time  since  their  organization  they  have 
done  nothing,  because  men  could  not  be  found  suitable  for  the,  service, 
When  I  read  of  this  fact,  it  had  on  my  ear  the  effect  of  a  dying 
groan,  and  stole  through  the  heart  like  the  cold  stream  of  death. 
Said  I  to  myself,  Are  the  Churches  that  our  fathers  planted,  which 
they  watered  with  their  tears,  in  whose  bosom  they  expired,  and 
in  whose  prosperity,  though  now  in  heaven,  they  have  still  a  deep 
and  unalienable  interest — are  they  to  become  extinct  1  Is  that 
covenant  broken,  which  it  was  promised  should  be  perpetual  1 
Had  their  Redeemer  said,  "  I  have  graven  thee  on  the  palms  of  my 
hands,  thy  walls  are  continually  before  me,"  and  has  that  V,ity  been 
demolished,  and  have  those  walls  been  thrown  down  1  Have  the 
children  who.  there  received  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  no  promise 
left  on  which  to  hang  their  hopes  1  If  we  are  to  do  good  to  all 
men,  but  especially  to  those  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith,  to 
help  them  to  re-establish  in  their  temples  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion is  the  first  duty  of  piety,  and  the  first  dictate  of  humanity.  They 
hunger  and  thirst  after  the  bread  of  life,  have  received  a  pledge 


THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  403 

that  God  will  sanctify  them  through  his  truth,  and  cannot  be  de- 
nied the  blessing  requisite  to  the  fulfilment  of  this  promise. 

Or  if  we  turn  our  eye  to  those  who  have  gone  to  the  western 
woods  we  shall  see  opened  before  us  a  field  which  we  dare  not 
refuse  to  cultivate.  They  have  been  used  to  the  blessings  of  a 
Christian  land,  have  heard  and  loved  the  Church-going  bell,  have 
enjoyed  schools,  academies  and  libraries,  and  have  been  revived 
by  the  ordinances,  and  must  they  now  be  excluded  for  ever  from 
these  privileges  1  They  cannot  educate  for  themselves  a  ministry, 
nor  build  in  the  wilderness  the  unnumbered  conveniences  they  left 
behind.  They  have  turned  their  eye  to  us,  and  if  we  refuse  them 
help  we  cover  them  with  unrningled  despair.  They  have  thus  be- 
fore them  none  but  the  comfortless  prospect  of  seeing  their  child- 
ren become  wild  men,  their  hand  against  every  man,  and  every 
man's  hand  against  them  ;  nor  this  the  least  ;  for,  without  the  gos- 
pel, there  is  nothing  before  their  dear  devoted  offspring  but  the 
blackness  of  darkness  for  ever.  The  mother,  that  had  devoted  her 
children  to  God,  and  has  gone  with  them  into  the  western  wilds,  must 
now  die  crushed  with  the  tremendous  thought,  that  she  became  a 
mother,  merely  that  she  might  people  the  realms  of  death.  Already 
she  has  hung  her  harp  upon  the  willows,  and  there  it  must  hang,  till 
some  kind  missionary  enters  the  door  of  her  cabin,  and  wipes 
away  her  tears  ;  and  this  missionary  we  must  educate.  Ten  long 
years  must  still  roll  away  before  he  arrives,  and  she  in  the  mean 
time,  bleached  by  the  frosts  of  age,  trembles  on  the  brink  of  the 
grave,  but  dare  not  die  till  her  hopes  are  accomplished,  and  her 
children  saved. 

And  who  are  these  inhabitants  of  the  forest  1  They  are  our 
fathers  and  mothers,  our  brethren  and  sisters,  our  children,  our 
friends  and  neighbors.  They  were  born  in  the  houses  we  occupy, 
have  gone  from  our  families  and  our  bosom,  were  the  companions 
of  our  childhood  and  our  youth.  We  took  sweet  counsel  together, 
and  went  to  the  house  of  God  in  company.  Hence  the  cry  they 
utter  sounds  in  our  ears  loud  and  eloquent  as  the  shrieks  of  death. 
If  we  do  not  hear  nor  help  them,  then  the  mother  has  forgot  her  suck- 
ing child,  and  feels  no  compassion  for  the  son  of  her  womb.  Do 
you  say,  They  shall  have  a  gospel  ministry  I  My  heart  responds, 
They  shall. 

But  I  hear  too  the  voice  of  the  savage,  sounding  from  the  bosom 
of  that  trackless  forest  still  beyond.  And  there  is  in  that  cry  a  wild 
and  native  eloquence. 

"  You  have  stripped  us  of  our  hunting  ground ;  all  in  life  that 


404  THE  INDUSTRIOUS  YOUNG  PROPHETS. 

we  held  de"ar ;  you  have  corrupted  our  morals  ;  our  tribes,  already 
incalculably  diminished,  have  nothing  before  them  but  the  dreary 
idea  of  being  swallowed  up,  unless  it  be  the  more  fearful  appre- 
hension of  perishing  for  ever  in  our  sins.  Once  we  were  the  heirs 
of  your  soil,  we  now  only  ask  to  die  the  heirs  of  that  salvation, 
which  is  revealed  to  you  in  your  Bibles."  A  cry  like  this  has 
been  uttered  and  is  heard.  Already  the  heralds  of  salvation  have 
gone  to  look  up  the  remnants  of  their  depopulated  tribes,  and  point 
them  to  a  Savior.  Their  sun  is  setting  in  the  west,  and  we  should 
give  evidence  that  we  had  their  unpitying  nature  as  well  as  their 
soil,  were  we  willing  to  see  it  go  down  in  total  darkness.  If  the 
few  that  remain  may  live  for  ever,  it  alleviates  the  retrospect  of 
their  wrongs,  and  creates  one  luminous  spot  in  the  Egyptian  cloud 
that  hangs  over  the  place  of  their  fathers'  sepulchres.  I  would 
give  any  price  for  their  forgiveness  and  their  blessing ;  and  it 
cheers  my  heart  that  my  country  is  beginning  to  pay  the  long  ar- 
rears which  are  due  to  that  injured  people. 

Now  suppose,  that  not  merely  from  the  west,  but  from  other 
heathen  lands,  we  hear  a  cry  for  the  gospel.  If  the  millions  of 
India  ask  us  to  send  them  back  in  Bibles  and  missionaries  the  wealth 
we  have  imported  from  their  shores,  we  can  say  to  them,  "  Be  ye 
warmed  and  be  ye  fed  1  If  Palestine,  and  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, are  seen  pining  with  spiritual  famine,  and  should  beg  us 
to  send  them  that  bread  of  heaven  which  their  forefathers  sent  to 
ours,  would  there  be  no  eloquence  in  that  prayer  1  Or  if  Africa, 
poor  ill-fated  Africa,  should  beg  us  to  make  them  a  Sabbath  and  build 
them  a  sanctuary,  and  send  them  a  Bible  and  a  missionary  j  would 
they  deserve  no  answer  1  Or  if  they  should  be  too  much  oppressed 
to  utter  any  cry,  and  we  should  only  know  that  their  highest  Deity  is 
a  serpent,  and  their  richest  hope  the  repose  of  the  grave,  can  we 
pass  by  on  the  other  side  1  Their  sons  have  served  our  fathers 
and  us ;  we  have  taught  them  nothing  but  our  vices  ;  and  if  now, 
when  the  promise  is  about  to  be  fulfilled,  and  Ethiopia  is  stretch- 
ing out  her  hands  unto  God,  we  should  refuse  them  the  gospel, 
how  can  we  answer  for  the  stripes,  and  chains,  and  servitude,  and 
famine,  with  which  we  have  taxed  them?  What  defence  can  ' 
we  make  when  their  compasssionate  Redeemer  shall  advocate 
their  cause. 

Poor  Africa  must  share,  though  late,  the  blessings  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  it  must  be  sent  to  the  shores  of  Palestine,  must  be  propagat- 
ed in  India,  must  sound  through  every  isle  of  the  ocean,  and  must 
go,  with  its  stores  of  blessings,  to  every  section  of  this  dark  and 


THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  405 

desolate  world.  But  it  cannot  be  sent ;  the  miseries  that  it  would 
alleviate  must  remain  without  a  cure,  till  there  is  a  great  augment- 
ation of  the  army  of  evangelists.  Hence  we  must  use  the  materi- 
als and  employ  the  means  in  our  power  to  equip  young  men  for 
this  service.  And  every  year's  delay  will  bury  millions  who  have 
never  heard  of  Christ,  and  have  no  faith  in  his  blood.  Hence  we 
are  urged  to  the  work,  by  all  that  is  fleeting  in  time,  by  all  that  is 
valuable  in  the  soul,  by  all  that  is  bright  and  rich  in  the  thought 
of  heaven,  and  by  all  that  is  dark  and  dreary  in  the  idea  of  hope- 
less perdition. 

IV.  Union  in  the  Christian  world  will  insure  success.  Said  the 
young  men  to  the  aged  and  venerable  Elisha,  "  Be  content,  we 
pray  thee,  and  go  with  thy  servants."  There  was  union  ;  and  very 
soon  the  trees  of  Jordan  fell,  and  the  school  of  the  prophets  was 
builded.  How  simple,  how  interesting,  and  how  full  of  instruc- 
tion is  this  page  of  sacred  story  !  How  the  venerable  prophet,  as 
he  bore  up  a  beam  from  the  wood,  evinced  his  faith  in  the  cove- 
nant, nerved  the  young  men  to  exertion,  and  magnified  his  office  ! 
Let  the  Christian  world  unite,  and  the  work  we  propose  will  be 
easy.  When  all  shall  do  a  little,  none  will  be  burdened.  We  can 
educate  teachers  for  ourselves,  and  furnish  a  surplus  for  the  out- 
casts of  Israel.  And  to  do  it  all  we  hardly  need  deny  ourselves  a 
single  comfort.  We  have  only  to  gather  up  the  fragments  and  let 
nothing  be  lost,  and  they  will  feed  millions  of  the  hungry.  When  we 
can  unite  in  the  effort,  it  will  be  easy  to  do  all  that  duty  and  that 
benevolence  require.  The  waste  places  will  be  repaired,  the  desti- 
tute will  be  furnished  with  the  bread  of  heaven,  the  heathen  will 
be  tamed  to  civility,  and  will  burn  their  temples  and  their  idols, 
Ethiopia  will  stretch  our  her  hands  unto  God,  the  posterity  of 
Abraham  will  own  their  allegiance  to  their  Savior,  and  be  again 
grafted  into  their  own  olive  tree,  the  Turk  and  the  Arab  will  ex- 
change the  mosque  and  the  Koran  for  the  sanctuary  and  the  Bible, 
the  Tartar  will  pitch  permanently  his  tent  about  the  house  of  the 
missionary,  and  Jesus,  the  long  neglected  Redeemer,  will  receive 
the  kingdom,  the  power  and  the  glory  for  ever. 

And  there  is  nothing  visionary  in  all  this.  It  is  all  promised,  it 
is  all  expected,  it  will  soon  transpire  ;  and  the  man  who  will  not 
believe,  like  the  infidel  of  Samaria,  may  die  in  the  gate,  while  the 
perishing  inhabitants  of  a  world  are  rushing  to  the  banquet  of  the 
Lamb.  The  angel,  flying  through  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  having 
the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  to  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth, 


406  THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS. 

will  publish  it  to  every  kindred,  and  nation,  and  tongue,  and  people. 
This  angel  is  the  gospel  ministry,  and  this  prediction  is  fast 
accomplishing. 

Will  any  ask,  What  has  all  this  to  do  with  the  present  occasion  1 
The  answer  is  obvious.  You  have  met  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
an  institution,  designed  to  recruit  the  ranks  of  the  gospel  ministry. 
There  are  many  who  would  become  soldiers  of  the  cross,  if  any 
would  equip  them.  The  subscribers  to  this  generous -fund,  and 
the  founders  of  this  noble  edifice,  have  in  view  this  single  object. 
It  is  an  institution,  in  some  respects,  like  no  other  that  ever  rose  ; 
designed  to  bestow  gratis  a  liberal  education  upon  those  who  will 
enter  the  gospel  ministry,  but  who  are  too  indigent  to  defray  the 
expense  of  their  own  induction.  It  has  been  founded,  and  must 
rise  by  charity.  And  every  man  who  shall  bring  a  beam  or  a  rock, 
who  shall  lay  a  stone  or  drive  a  nail,  from  love  to  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  shall  not  fail  of  his  reward.  I  believe  this  institution  will 
collect  about  it  the  friends  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  will  be  fed  by 
their  philanthropy  and  watered  by  their  prayers,  and  will  yet  be- 
come a  fountain  pouring  forth  its  streams  to  fertilize  the  bound- 
less wastes  of  a  miserable  world.  In  vision  I  see  it  among  the 
first  institutions  of  our  land,  the  younger  sister  and  the  best  friend 
of  our  theological  seminaries,  the  centre  of  our  education  societies, 
the  solace  of  poverty,  the  joy  of  the  destitute,  and  the  hope  and 
the  salvation  of  perishing  millions.* 

Connected  as  it  is  with  the  recruit  of  the  ministry,  the  salvation 
of  souls,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  will  rise,  and 
will  soon  have  a  claim  upon  the  charity,  the  prayers,  and  the  tears 
of  the  whole  Christian  community.  If  some  who  may  aid  in  the 
work  have  other  motives  than  the  glory  of  God,  still  I  will  hope, 
and  I  do  believe,  that  the  great  mass  of  the  donors  have  their  eye 
upon  the  future  glories  of  Immanuel,  and  are  erecting  this  insti- 
tution as  a  monument  to  his  honor.  And  having  put  their  hand 
to  the  plough,  they  will  not  look  back.  They  will  still  enlarge 
their  charities,  and  increase  their  hopes,  till  this  sacred  spot,  where 
they  are  erecting  the  school,  has  attracted  the  gaze,  and  gladdened 
the  aching  hearts  of  believers  in  every  destitute  section  of  our 
land. 

The  subject  now  makes  its  appeal  to  all  classes  of  men,  to  all 
the  tender  relationships  of  life,  and  to  all  the  sympathies  of  human 

*  We  are  happy  to  say  that  this  prediction  has  been  fulfilled  long  before  this 
time. 


THE   INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  407 

nature.  Its  first  appeal  is  to  the  churches  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
They  are  the  sacred  depositaries  of  divine  truth,  and  are  obligated 
to  perpetuate  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.  Here  you  may  edu- 
cate your  children,  born  in  your  late  revivals,  and  committed  to 
your  care  to  train  up  for  the  Lord.  Here  you  see  revived  the 
hope  and  the  promise  of  your  future  prosperity.  "  Thy  children 
shall  all  be  taught  of  the  Lord,  and  great  shall  be  the  peace  of  thy 
children."  Here  we  hope  will  be  educated  many  of  your  future 
pastors.  You  have  here  an  additional  pledge,  that  God  has  not 
forsaken  you,  and  that  he  will  never  leave  the  vine  he  has  planted 
in  this  western  world,  to  be  trodden  down  by  the  boar  of  the 
wood,  or  wasted  by  the  lapse  of  time,  or  the  ravages  of  death. 
"  Thy  teachers  shall  not  be  removed  into  a  corner  any  more,  but 
thine  eyes  shall  see  thy  teachers." 

And  congregations  have  a  singular  interest.  You  have  had  just 
occasion  to  fear  that  you  might  one  day  become  waste  places, 
through  a  lack  of  pastors.  But  the  thought  must  be  dreadful, 
whether  you  regard  a  future  life,  or  only  the  present.  When  the 
lips  which  now  address  you  in  your  respective  sanctuaries,  are 
cold  in  death,  and  you  are  met  to  pay  the  last  offices  of  affection 
to  your  deceased  pastors,  how  it  would  darken  the  glooms  of  that 
evening,  and  lessen  your  hopes  of  salvation,  to  apprehend  a  famine 
of  the  word.  But  the  most  judicious,  till  the  Church  waked  to  the 
duty  of  educating  fyerself  a  ministry,  feared  all  this.  The  increase 
of  our  population,  and  the  urgent  claims  of  the  heathen  and  the 
destitute,  seemed  to  leave  us,  till  we  discovered  this  remedy,  no- 
thing to  look  for  but  ultimate  desertion  and  ruin.  For  with  the 
gospel,  it  was  known  there  would  desert  us  the  Sabbath  and  all 
those  institutions  which  are  the  glory  of  our  land.  Hence  the 
very  infidel,  who  has  no  hope  for  himself  and  his  children  beyond 
the  grave,  but  would  have  them  civil,  and  decent,  and  wealthy, 
and  happy  in  the  present  life,  has  a  deep  interest  in  this  institu- 
tion. 

But  the  subject  addresses  itself  specially  to  believers.  You  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  love  his  Church,  and  have  a  deep  in- 
terest in  whatever  has  respect  to  his  honor.  And  the  eternal  life 
of  souls  is  near  your  heart.  If  this  institution  then  promises  to 
promote  either  of  these  objects,  it  will  be  dear  to  your  hearts. 
And  you  know  the  ministry  is  appointed  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
saints  and  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ.  Of  course  an 
institution  designed  to  enlarge  this  ministry,  is  connected  inti- 
mately with  your  best  interests,  your  highest  pleasures,  and  your 


408  THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.' 

richest  hopes.     And  as  you  shall  see  its  walls  rise,  we  shall  pre- 
sume on  your  co-operation  and  your  prayers. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  whole  vicinity  have  a  deep  interest  in 
this  institution.  It  will  not  confine  its  blessings  to  you,  but  it  will 
offer  you  its  benefits  with  the  fewest  inconveniences.  If  God  has 
given  your  children  his  grace,  you  have  here  an  opportunity  to 
educate  them  at  your  own  threshold.  And  if  you  are  too  poor  to 
purchase  the  privilege,  still  this  institution  opens  to  you  its  doors 
Nor  is  the  thought  to  be  despised,  that  here  there  will  be  collected 
those  who  have  an  interest  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  whose 
daily  supplications  must  bring  a  blessing  upon  the  whole  vicinity. 

To  parents  this  subject  cannot  want  interest.  If  there  should 
be  no  prospect  that  our  own  children  be  here  prepared  for  useful- 
ness, still  the  institution  will  stand,  we  trust,  when  our  bodies  have 
mouldered  in  the  grave,  and  be  a  nursery  for  our  children's  child- 
ren down  through  many  generations.  In  an  age  like  this,  preg- 
nant with  such  high  and  holy  promise  to  the  rising  generation,  it 
is  a  blessing  to  be  a  parent.  We  may  have  higher  hopes  than  any 
age  that  has  gone  by,  that  God  will  pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  our 
seed,  and  his  blessing  upon  our  offspring. 

The  friends  of  correct  sentiment  will  rejoice  to  see  a  school  of 
the  prophets  opened  among  a  people  who  believe  the  truth,  and  in 
a  neighborhood  where  there  is  a  pious  and  orthodox  ministry, 
where  prevail  the  doctrines  of  our  forefathers,  and  where  the  as- 
surance is  so  strong,  that  these  same  funds  shall  never  be  per- 
verted from  their  original  design.  We  have  seen  error  attempting 
to  roll  its  desolating  flood  through  our  churches.  We  have  seen 
prostituted  to  the  vile  purpose  of  disseminating  false  doctrines, 
funds  that  were  consecrated  to  the  interests  of  truth.  We  have 
seen  the  Redeemer  degraded  to  a  mere  attribute,  an  angel,  a  man, 
and  even  a  sinner,  by  the  very  charities  that  were  intended  to  give 
him  a  throne  in  every  heart,  and  an  altar  in  every  house.  We 
have  seen  fountains,  opened  by  the  liberality  of  a  pious  ancestry, 
so  poisoned,  that  every  stream  they  issued  carried  sterility  and 
death  through  the  provinces  they  were  designed  to  fertilize.  Next 
to  the  grace  of  God,  and  relying  on  his  blessing,  the  best  means 
of  cleansing  those  waters,  or  damming  these  streams,  is  to  prepare 
for  the  churches  a  full  supply  of  scribes  well  instructed  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  And  the  hope  could  hardly  be  stronger,  that 
the  funds  here  deposited  for  that  purpose,  will  be  for  ever  held 
sacred  to  the  design  for  which  they  were  consecrated. 

The  poor  will  feel  a  special  interest  in  every  transaction  relative 


THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  4-09 

to  this  institution.  The  fund  subscribed  is  exclusively  for  them, 
and  can  never  be  diverted  from  their  use.  Here  then  is  one  in- 
stitution where  envy  can  have  no  employ.  The  rich  would  not  be 
willing  that  the  Christian  public  should  educate  their  children,  they 
would  prefer  to  purchase  the  benefit.  Once  it  was  said,  "  To  the 
poor  the  gospel  is  preached"  now  the  poor  may  become  qualified 
to  preach  the  gospel.  They  may  dispense  the  blessings  which  it 
has  been  their  province  to  receive,  may  teach  where  it  was  their 
privilege  to  learn,  may  become  beneficiaries  to  an  extent  that  shall 
qualify  them  to  become  benefactors.  Here,  if  you  cannot  educate 
your  own  children,  and  God  has  given  them  his  grace,  and  they 
are  otherwise  qualified,  you  may  send  them  to  live  by  the  temple 
and  feed  upon  its  offerings,  till  they  are  prepared  to  be  prophets 
in  Israel.  0,  it  must  carry  hope  and  joy  into  the  habitations  of 
poverty  to  day,  to  know  that  there  is  laid  the  foundation  of  an  in- 
stitution, destined  to  pour  its  blessings  exclusively  upon  the  indi- 
gent !  This  is  a  blessing  that  has  lain  so  beyond  their  hopes  as 
to  have  hardly  been  an  object  of  their  prayers.  Before  they  have 
called,  God  has  answered.  Hence,  to  the  full  extent  of  their 
power  they  will  pour  into  this  fund  the  little  streams  of  their  cha- 
rity, and  will  watch  the  progress  of  its  rising  honors  and  its  grow- 
ing interests  with  paternal  fondness  and  solicitude. 

Nor  will  the  rich  have  any  feelings  but  those  of  pleasure.  All 
other  institutions  have  opened  their  doors  to  them,  while  this  one, 
which  promises  promotion  to  the  children  of  their  poorer  neigh- 
bors, will  receive  their  patronage  and  their  prayers.  Nor  can 
they  know  but  their  posterity  may  be  poor,  and  one  day  hang  their 
last  hope  on  the  promised  aid  of  this  kind  and  benevolent  insti- 
tution. 

I  cannot  suppress  my  wish  to  recommend  this  institution  to  the 
patronage  of  females.  They  have  recently  signalized  themselves 
as  the  friends  of  religion  and  of  the  gospel  ministry.  Many  an 

tbassador  of  the  cross  owes  his  courage  and  his  success,  to  their 
irities  and  their  prayers.  Here  they  will  have  opportunity,  I 
hope,  to  see  some  of  their  noblest  wishes  gratified.  Here  they 
may  consecrate  their  charities,  and  toward  this  place  may  turn 
their  eye  when  they  pray,  and  find  their  spirits  cheered,  their 
prayers  answered,  and  their  hopes  accomplished.  In  the  zeal  they 
show  for  these  objects,  they  evince  that  they  know  how  to  appre- 
ciate their  own  comforts.  The  gospel,  in  addition  to  the  promise 
of  eternal  life,  renders  them  free,  respected,  and  happy,  in  the  life 
that  now  is. 

52 


410  THE   INDUSTRIOUS   YOUNG    PROPHETS. 

This  institution  has  a  claim  upon  the  patriot.  No  country  is  so 
blessed  as  when  science  and  religion  blend  their  influences,  and 
shower  upon  society  their  united  blessing.  But  this  school,  more 
than  any  other,  will  tend  to  that  balance  of  influence,  and  approx- 
imate us  toward  that  equality,  which  is  ever  the  Basis  of  a  govern- 
ment like  ours.  It  will  raise  the  poor,  widen  the  bonds  of  affec- 
tion, and  vastly  increase  the  amount  of  happiness.  We  hope  to 
enlist  in  this  benevolent  design  the  whole  aggregate  of  patriotism 
within  the  compass  of  its  influence. 

The  ministers  of  Christ  will  say,  God  speed,  to  an  enterprize 
calculated  to  increase  the  laborers  in  the  vineyard.  We  shall  thus 
give  evidence  to  the  world,  that  all  we  say  respecting  the  scarcity 
of  ministers  we  fully  believe ;  for  if  things  were  otherwise,  we 
could  not  act  more  unwisely  for  our  own  interest  than  to  thus 
raise  up  rivals,  who  might  rob  us  of  our  parishes  and  our  bread. 
How  it  must  gladden  our  aged  fathers,  to  see  an  institution  rise, 
designed  to  prolong  the  cry  of  glad  tidings,  which  begins  to  die 
away  upon  their  palsied  lips.  When  they  can  address  sinners  no 
more,  and  can  only  cast  an  eye  over  the  valley  of  vision,  and  sur- 
vey the  vast  fields  of  the  slain,  it  will  rejoice  their  hearts  to  see 
other  prophets  taking  their  stand  by  the  side  of  that  valley,  intend- 
ing to  prolong  the  prophecy  till  the  dry  bones  have  become  living 
men.  When  the  aged  Elisha  went  with  the  young  prophets  to  the 
banks  of  Jordan,  to  cheer  them  in  their  toils,  and  aid  them  with 
his  counsels  and  his  prayers,  he  showed  a  strong  regard  to  the 
future  welfare  of  Israel,  and  deeply  engraved  his  memory  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  young  prophets.  Unless  I  greatly  mistake  the  feel- 
ings of  my  aged  fathers,  their  eyes  will  be  bright  with  joy  while 
they  see  these  walls  go  up.  They  will  fall  on  their  knees,  and 
spread  their  hands  toward  heaven,  and  give  us  their  dying  bless- 
ing ;  and  may  their  prayers  return  into  their  own  bosom. 

If  now,  in  my  concluding  remarks,  I  should  address  you  as 
Christians,  I  would  say,  This  institution,  if  permitted  to  rise,  (an^ 
we  look  to  God  for  this  permission,)  and  if  not  grossly  perverted 
from  its  original  design,  is  connected  intimately  with  the  disper- 
sion of  that  Egyptian  darkness  which  has  so  long  brooded  over  an 
apostate  world ;  with  all  that  is  interesting  in  the  rescue  of  the 
idolater  from  his  gods,  the  Papist  from  his  relics  and  his  saints, 
the  Jew  from  his  Talmud,  the  Mahometan  from  his  Koran,  the 
African  from  his  chains,  and  the  assassin  from  his  pistol  and  his 
knife.  You  have  enlightened  views  of  your  Maker,  have  a  Bible, 
a  sabbath,  and  a  sanctuary,  can  feast  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and 


THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  411 

entertain  hopes  of  a  rich  and  happy  immortality.  I  plead  for  those 
who  are  immortal  like  you,  and  like  you  must  die,  and  be  judged, 
but  have  never  learned  the  true  character  of  God,  nor  heard  the 
story  of  a  Savior,  nor  have  discovered  any  escape  from  the  glooms 
of  the  sepulchre  ;  who  look  to  that  home  as  the  seat  of  perpetual 
darkness,  forgetfulness  and  silence ;  who  have  never  kept  a  day 
of  rest,  and  can  hope  to  remit  their  toils,  their  cares  and  their  mis- 
eries, only  when  their  heads  shall  slumber  on  the  turf.  Religion 
would  make  them  as  happy  as  you,  and  heaven  as  blessed. 

But  I  do  not  appeal  exclusively  to  piety,  but  to  all  the  tender  feel- 
ings of  humanity.  When  you  cast  your  eye  over  the  dark  places 
of  the  earth,  which  are  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty,  every 
aspect  of  wretchedness  which  you  descry,  gives  importance  to  the 
transactions  of  this  day.  We  plead  for  the  unhappy,  for  the  lost, 
and  the  miserable.  I  think  I  see,  without  the  aid  of  inspiration,  a 
band  of  missionaries,  educated  in  this  school,  issuing  forth  to 
chase  misery  from  this  polluted  world. 

You  are  a  father,  are  loved  by  your  children,  and  cherished  with 
that  tenderness  which  your  infirmities  and  your  age  require  ;  we 
plead  for  fathers,  who  in  their  declining  years  are  deserted  by 
their  children,  and  left  to  perish  by  the  frosts  of  age,  who  are 
borne  to  the  bed  of  some  river,  that  they  may  be*  swept  away  by 
the  tide,  and  become  the  food  of  the  shark  or  the  alligator. 

You  are  a  mother,  and  perhaps  a  widow,  and  your  children  would 
shrink  from  no  sacrifice  that  might  prolong  your  life,  or  soothe 
your  pains  or  your  cares  ;  I  plead  for  mothers  whose  offspring  are 
monsters,  and  can  force  them  at  the  point  of  the  spear  upon  the 
flames  that  are  consuming  the  corpse  of  a  husband,  and  can  drown 
their  dying  shrieks  in  acclamations  of  infernal  joy. 

You  was  left  in  your  infancy  an  orphan,  and  have  found  in  this 
inhospitable  world  a  guardian  and  a  friend,  who  has  nursed  your 
childhood,  and  watched  your  youth,  and  reared  you  to  respectable 
and  promising  manhood  ;  I  plead  for  orphans,  who  have  no  home 
but  in  the  place  of  sculls,  no  house  but  the  house  of  silence,  where 
sleep  the  ashes  of  a  merciless  mother,  no  friend  but  death,  who 
stops  the  rage  of  hunger,  blunts  the  edge  of  care,  extinguishes  the 
fire  of  affection  and  hope,  and  finds  the  wretched  a  covert  and  a 
calm  amid  the  clods  of  the  valley. 

If  the  relief  of  miseries  like  these  has  the  least  connection  with 
the  events  of  this  day,  these  events  will  have  some  claim  upon  the 
sympathy  of  every  feeling  heart.  If  we  might  only  hope,  that  by 
means  of  this  institution,  one  more  missionary,  than  would  other- 


412  THE    INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS. 

wise  be  educated,  will  enter  the  fields  of  labor,  and  go  to  some  one 
province  of  this  dark  world,  and  there  create  a  light  that  shall  guide 
home  to  heaven  one  benighted  soul,  it  would  be  worth  all  the  pains  and 
the  wealth  that  shall  be  expended  in  founding  this  school.  "  The 
redemption  of  the  soul  is  precious  and  it  ceaseth  for  ever."  You 
might  cover  that  field  with  silver  and  gold,  and  if  the  whole  would 
buy  off  one  soul  from  perdition  it  would  be  well  expended.  And 
I  must  believe  that  more  than  one  missionary  will  be  sent,  and  more 
than  one  sinner  be  redeemed,  by  the  means  that  are  here  providing  ; 
and  in  the  boundless  joys  thus  generated,  shall  find  all  the  reward 
I  wish,  for  any  plea  I  can  offer,  or  any  exertions  I  can  make,  to 
advance  this  interest. 

If  we  are  utterly  mistaken,  and  any  feel  otherwise,  we  rejoice 
that  the  field  of  labor  is  large.  They  may  glorify  God  in  some 
other  way,  may  feed  the  poor,  disperse  the  Scriptures,  support  the 
missionaries  already  educated,  or  educate  others  in  some  other 
school.  Or  if  any  will  neither  aid  this  charity  nor  any  other,  and 
their  consciences  will  approve'  of  their  neutrality,  they  shall  re- 
ceive no  reproach  from  us  if  they  do  nothing.  If  we  are  disposed 
to  do  good,  and  our  motive  is  the  glory  of  God,  it  will  ill  become 
us  to  reproach  others.  To  their  own  master  they  stand  or  fall. 

In  the  mean  time,  I  hope  that  those  who  cannot  conscientiously 
labor  with  us,  will  utter  no  reproaches,  nor  make  any  effort  to  dam 
the  streams  of  charity  that  might  flow  to  this  centre,  and  issue 
hence  to  carry  their  fertilizing  influence  through  the  wastes  of 
this  miserable  world.  If  once  the  object  was  good,  it  is  so  still. 
If  unhappily  some  may  not  have  had  in  view  the  Divine  glory  in 
their  most  zealous  efforts,  still  the  character  of  the  institution  is 
not  changed,  noT  its  importance  diminished,  nor  its  claims  cancel- 
led. I  close  with  one  remark  to  the  friends  of  this  institution. 

How  important  is  it,  that  we  suitably  prize  and  improve  the 
ministry  established  among  us.  What  will  it  avail  us  that  we 
have  pitied  the  destitute,  and  the  heathen,  if  at  last  we  die  impeni- 
tent, and  sink  below  them  in  perdition.  We  may  send  them  the 
Bible  and  the  ambassador  of  peace,  and  still  neglect  that  book  and 
that  ministry,  and  die  unsanctified.  The  ministry  can  be  a  bless- 
ing to  the  heathen,  only  as  it  may  become  the  means  of  their  con- 
version ;  hence  to  feel  anxious  for  them,  and  found  an  institution 
with  a  view  to  furnish  them  a  ministry,  and  yet  under  the  full  ad- 
vantages of  that  ministry  live  without  God  and  without  Christ  in 
the  world,  is  to  act  with  unpardonable  disregard  of  our  first  best 
duty.  It  would  be  a  fearful  event,  if  finally  we  should  lift  up  our 


THE   INDUSTRIOUS    YOUNG    PROPHETS.  413 

voice  and  weep  and  say,  "  My  mother's  children  made  me  the  keeper 
of  the  vineyards,  but  mine  own  vineyard  have  I  not  kept."  Each 
of  us  has  a  soul  that  must  live  for  ever,  that  must  be  washed  in  a 
Savior's  blood,  or  must  endure  the  terrors  of  his  wrath ;  to  save 
this  soul  is  our  first  concern,  and  we  may  wake  in  its  interests  too 
late.  If  we  should  give  all  our  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  our 
bodies  to  be  burned,  and  yet  lack  that  charity  to  which  salvation 
is  promised,  we  should  die  fools  at  the  last.  It  is  true  that  the 
religion  of  the  gospel  is  benevolent ;  it  is  true  that  the  covetous 
man  is  an  idolater,  and  has  not  eternal  life  abiding  in  him,  but 
there  is  also  a  religion  which  all  evaporates  in  care  for  the  safety 
of  others,  which  has  little  to  do  with  the  closet,  or  the  heart,  or 
the  Bible,  or  heaven.  O  let  this  day  bring  us  all  to  our  knees. 
Let  the  walls  of  this  edifice  be  bedewed  with  the  tears  of  repent- 
ance, and  may  we  all  be  pillars  or  polished  stones  in  the  mystical 
temple,  which  Christ  is  erecting,  that  when  the  top-stone  is  laid 
we  may  be  there  to  aid  the  shout,  Grace,  grace  unto  it.  "  Amen, 
even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 


SERMON   XXXV. 

THE  NATURE  AND  RESULTS  OF  SANCTIFICATION. 

JOHN   XVII.    17. 
Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth ;  thy  word  ie  truth. 

OUR  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  a  perfect  man.  This  we  must  be- 
lieve as  confidently  as  we  believe  his  divinity,  else  we  shall  have 
confused  ideas  of  many  portions  of  divine  truth.  And  as  he  was 
a  perfect  man,  and  would  be  in  all  things  a  pattern  of  what  his 
people  should  be,  he  must  have  a  perfect  religious  character,  and 
perform  the  Christian  duties  as  far  as  they  would  be  applicable  to 
his  exalted  nature.  Hence,  we  often  find  him  engaged  in  prayer. 

Whatever  difficulty  there  may  be  in  the  idea  of  a  divine  Re- 
deemer's praying,  the  fact  we  are  bound  to  believe.  In  his  infe- 
rior character  as  Mediator,  he  acted  by  commission  from  the 
Father,  and  would  take  instructions  from  him,  and  put  confidence 
in  him..  When  the  last  scene  was  coming  on,  and  he  knew  that 
soon  he  must  hang  upon  the  tree,  he  offered  that  memorable  prayer 
from  which  the  text  is  selected.  He  prayed  most  tenderly  for  his 
people ;  and  among  the  first  blessings  asked,  he  prayed  for  their 
sanctification  through  the  truth. 

There  cluster  about  this  subject  many  interesting  questions^  to  some 
of  which  I  purpose  to  turn  your  attention. 

I.  What  do  the  Scriptures  mean  by  sanctification  1  Sometimes 
it  means  being  set  apart  to  sacred  use.  Thus  every  seventh  day 
is  sanctified.  "  God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it." 
Thus  the  tabernacle  and  temple,  the  priests  and  altars,  and  sacrifi- 
ces, and  all  the  sacred  things  of  the  Jewish  dispensation  were 
sanctified. 

God  speaks  of  sanctifying  his  name,  which  he  does  when  by  his 
judgments  he  rebukes  the  gainsayers,  and  stills  their  blasphemies. 
He  thus  convinces  men  that  he  is  holy. 

I  could  name  many  other  uses  of  the  term  sanctification ;  but  its 
principal  use,  and  that  intended  in  the  text,  is,  in  application  to  the 
work  of  rendering  an  unholy  creature  holy.  Men  are  by  nature 


THE   NATURE    AND    RESULTS   OF   SANCTIFICATION.  415 

unholy.  They  exercise  forbidden  affections,  and  do  not  put  forth 
the  affections  that  God  requires.  The  prayer  of  Christ  in  the  text 
was,  that  his  followers,  through  the  instrumentality  of  truth,  might 
be  made  what  God  requires  them  to  be ;  having  the  affections  of 
the  heart,  and,  of  course,  the  deeds  of  the  life,  conformable  to  the 
divine  law. 

II.  Another  question  may  here  very  properly  be, — When  does 
this  holiness  begin  \     And  the  answer  is  obvious.     It  begins  at  the 
moment  of  regeneration.     Till  then,  all  the  exercises  are  unholy ; 
for  "  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God."     Nor  is  there  any 
degree  of  alarm,  or  any  amount  of  conviction,  that  can  generate 
one  holy  affection  in  the  heart,  previously  to  this  period.     Of 
course  all  the  prayers  offered,  and  all  the  exertions  made,  prior  to 
this  change,  are  unregenerate  prayers  and  exertions.     Nor  can  it 
be  believed,  consistently  with  correct  Scripture  views,  that,  ante- 
rior to  this  moment,  there  is  any  approximation  toward  correct 
feeling.     No  alarm,  nor  the  most  distinct  conviction,  can  bring  an 
unregenerate  man  to  feel  any  more  correctly  toward  God,  or  any 
holy  object,  than  he  did  in  a  state  of  carelessness  and  security. 
And  although  we  would  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  Divine  influence 
in  the  hour  of  awakening  may  not  restrain  the   sinner,  and  hold 
him  back  from  the  blasphemous  thoughts  and  affections  which  he 
might  otherwise  put  forth,  yet  in  all  this  there  is  no  holiness. 

And  then  it  may  be  a  question  whether  the  sinner,  under  glarm, 
does  not  wax  worse  and  worse,  till  the  moment  of  passing  from 
death  unto  life.  If  he  has  more  light — if  he  sees  more  distinctly 
the  objects  of  his  implacable  hatred,  does  he  not  obviously  rjse  in 
his  hatred,  till  it  is  changed  into  love'!  This  point,  however,  it  is 
not  my  object  to  press.  We  must  concede  that  holiness  begins 
when  the  heart  is  changed. 

III.  Is  it  always  small  in  its  beginning  ?    Does  that  text  in  which 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  compared  to  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  and 
that  other  where  it  is  compared  to  leaven,  teach  us  that  grace  in 
the  heart  is  thus  small  at  the  first  \     Or  do  they  illustrate  the  pri- 
mitive smallness  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  its  ultimate  growth 
and  enlargement!     They  may  be  meant  to  apply  in  both  cases, 
but  aside  from  these  texts,  we  are  taught  unequivocally  in  the 
Scriptures,  that  the  believer  is,  at  the  first,  sanctified  but  in  a  small 
degree,  and  that  he  "  grows  in  grace"  till  he  arrives  at  the  fulness 
of  the  stature  of  a  perfect  man  in  Christ  Jesus.     He  is  at  the  first. 


416  THE    NATURE    AND    RESULTS   OF    SANCTIFICATION, 

a  "  babe,  and  has  need  of  milk,  and  not  of  strong  meat."  After 
wards,  he  "  forgets  the  things  that  are  behind,  and  reaches  forth 
to  those  things  that  are  before,  and  presses  toward  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  li^ht 
that  has  shined  in  upon  him  shines  "  brighter  and  brighter  unto 
the  perfect  day."  Hence,  we  gather,  that  though  the  work  of  re- 
generation is  from  its  very  nature  instantaneous,  the  work  of  sanc- 
tification  is  progressive,  and  is,  at  the  first,  comparatively  small. 

IV.  But  how  will  this  comport*with  what  believers  have  thought 
was  their  experience — that  at  the  first  they  felt  a  glow  of  holy  af- 
fection, which  they  termed  their  first  love,  which  afterward  they 
lost!  And  the  Scriptures,  they  have  supposed,  favored  the  idea. 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  remember  thee,  the  kindness  of  thy  youth, 
the  love  of  thine  espousals,  when  thou  wentest  after  me  in  the 
wilderness,  in  a  land  that  was  not  sown."  But  was  that  love  of 
espousals,  thus  accredited  to  Israel,  all  holy  love  1 — or  was  it  not, 
in  great  part  at  least,  merely  that  natural  joy  which  might  arise 
from  the  comfort,  and  pride,  and  novelty  of  their  emancipation  !  It 
surely  soon  vanished,  and  they  murmured,  and  made  them  gods, 
under  whose  guidance  they  purposed  to  return  to  Egypt.  And 
that  whole  congregation,  you  know,  died  in  the  wilderness.  They 
were,  evidently,  as  a  body,  destitute  of  holiness  f  hence  their  love 
of  espousals  must  be  explained  as  something  else  than  delight  in 
God. 

But  why  may  not  the  same  be  said  often  of  that  joy  with  which 
the  heart  of  the  new-born  seems  to  overflow  I  Can  we  be  allowed 
to  believe  it  is  all  holy  love  to  God  1  There  can  be,  as  yet,  but 
little  knowledge  of  God,  or  of  truth.  Hence  that  strong  affection 
can  hardly  be  allowed  to  flow  wholly  from  objects  so  dimly  seen. 
Is  there  not  often  far  greater  probability,  that  it  is  the  mere  effu- 
sion of  animal  affection  1  Or,  at  least,  that  it  has  far  more  of  na- 
ture in  it  than  of  grace.  There  may  not  seem,  afterward,  the 
same  hilarity ;  but  is  there  not  more  knowledge  of  truth  and  duty, 
and  more  stability  in  the  ways  of  God,  more  fixed  principles  of  ac- 
tion, more  humility,  and  more  undeviating  confidence  in  the  Sa- 
vior 1 

In  which  position  would  the  believer  most  readily  go  to  the 
stake,  and  lay  down  his  life  for  his  Master  1  when,  during  the  first 
month  of  his  regeneracy,  he  fills  the  air  with  his  song  1  or,  when 
a  few  years  afterward,  he  has  learned  the  corruption  of  his  heart, 
and  at-times,  perhaps,  hardly  dare  hope  that  he  is  born  of  God  l 


THE    NATURE   AND    RESULTS   OF   S A  NOTIFICATION.  417 

May  not  the  joy  abate,  and  there  be,  at  the  same  time,  an  increase 
of  the  principle  of  holiness  that  develops  a  heavenly  mind  1  Sure- 
ly it  is  the  believer  of  continued  experience,  and  not  the  man  re- 
newed but  yesterday,  that  is  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  truth,  and 
who  cannot  be  driven  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine.  Whether 
this  question  is  decided  right,  however,  I  wish  each  one  to  judge 
for  himself. 

V.  Another  question  arising  out  of  this  subject  is — does  the 
good  man  at  all  times  advance  in  holiness  ?  and  are  we  so  to  un- 
derstand that  text,  "  The  righteous  shall  hold  on  his  way"  !  Here, 
perhaps,  again,  it  is  not  easy  to  come  at  what  we  are  sure  is  truth. 
I  have  believed  that  it  is  otherwise,  and  that,  while  there  are  times 
when  the  good  man  progresses  rapidly,  there  are  other  times  when 
he  makes  no  progress,  and  others,  again,  when  the  progress  of  ho- 
liness, if  I  may  so  speak,  is  backward.  Thus  Israel,  sometimes, 
bent  their  track  directly  to  the  promised  land,  at  other  times  did 
not  move  for  many  days,  and  at  other  times  marched  retrograde. 
So  we  have  seen  the  plant  spring  up  and  grow  as  if  life  was  in  it, 
and  then  perhaps  for  weeks  seem  stationary,  and  then  again  with- 
ering under  drought,  and  seemingly  about  to  perish.  Whether 
these  analogies  may  teach  us  truth  or  mislead  us,  still  I  have  be- 
lieved it  thus  with  the  child  of  God.  And  the  only  position  con- 
tested, I  believe,  is,  whether  the  Christian  is  ever  in  the  way  to 
do  himself  essential  injury.  That  broad  promise,  "  All  things 
shall  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,"  has  been 
used  as  implying  the  negative.  That  the  promise  is  true,  and  that 
the  full  import  of  it  will  be  accomplished,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt. 
But  what  is  its  import  1  Does  God  merely  promise,  in  this  pre- 
cious text,  that  all  the  events  of  his  providence  shall  conspire  to 
bring  his  people  to  a  higher  seat  in  heaven  1  Or  does  he  promise 
all  this,  and  more  too,  that  their  very  backsliding  shall  conspire  to 
the  same  result  1  Would  he  promise,  that  if  they  forsake  him, 
and  sin  by  going  after  their  idols,  this  very  sin  shall  tend  to  purify 
them  !  Would  it  be  safe  to  trust  a  wandering  believer  with  such 
a  promise  in  his  hand  1  Is  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  it  will 
tend  to  the  health  and  growth  of  the  heavenly  mind,  to  have  it 
wounded,  and  polluted,  and  ensnared  by  transgression  1  Have  -we 
any  assurance  that  Peter  and  David  might  not  have  reached  a 
nobler  Christian  stature,  if  they  had  stood  firm  in  the  hour  of 
temptation  ^  I  confess,  I  think  there  is  no  such  assurance. 
53 


4-18  THE   NATURE    AND    RESULTS    OF    SANCTIFICATION. 

Do  not  facts  warrant  us  to  believe  that  Christian  minds  of  the 
same  powers  and  opportunities,  have  made  different  degrees  of  ad- 
vance in  the  ways  of  God  1  The  one  is  seen  to  climb  the  steeps 
of  Zion,  with  brisk  and  steady  step,  and  far  outgo  the  other,  while 
to  us  there  appears  no  reason  why  the  other  might  not  have  led 
in  the  enterprise.  The  professor  who  comes  at  length  to  the 
grave  in  old  age,  and,  as  we  hope,  a  believer,  but  who  can  look 
back  upon  whole  years  of  relapse  and  of  wandering,  has  he  those 
marks  of  maturity,  and  that  animating  hope,  and  that  strong  and 
conquering  faith,  seen  in  the  man  who  moved  steadily  on  in  the 
ways  of  God,  till  his  Master  called  him  1  You  are  thinking,  per- 
haps, while  you  read,  of  two  old  men,  contemporaries  who  died, 
it  may  be  in  the  same  year,  members  of  the  same  communion,  the 
one  having  hardly  deviated  from  the  path  of  life  an  hour,  while  the 
other  has  seemed  to  be  alternately  a  Christian  or  a  worldling,  as  the 
times  were.  Now  which  of  them  seemed  manifestly  to  fall  asleep  in 
Jesus,  while  the  other  was  saved  perhaps,  though  as  by  fire  1  You 
have  all  answered  me.  Pass  through  our  Churches,  and  tell  me 
where  is  the  venerated  man  of  God,  who  is  to  the  world  around 
him  a  walking  conscience,  and  carries  heaven  on  his  brow,  in 
whose  life  there  have  not  been  some  dark  seasons  of  marked,  and 
guilty,  and  hurtful  relapse  1  Let  me  say,  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
Christian  does  make  uniform  progress  in  holiness,  but  does  some- 
times become  stationary,  and  sometimes  retrograde  in  the  heavenly 
road. 

VI.  Are  we  then  to  believe,  that  while  every  Christian  in  heaven 
will  be  perfect,  there  will  still  be  a  difference  in  their  Christian  sta- 
ture, and  their  amount  of  enjoyment  proportioned  to  their  industry 
in  acquiring  holiness  in  the  present  life  1  On  this  point  there  can  be 
very  little  doubt.     There  will  be  a  difference  in  heaven  among  re- 
deemed spirits,  as  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory. 
Doubtless  God  will  have  employment  for  them  all  in  his  kingdom. 
As  in  a  building  there  is  a  variety  of  materials,  places  to  fill  requir- 
ing more  and  less  strength,  but  all  necessary  ;  so  in  that  mystic 
temple  whose  topstone  is  to  be  laid  in  heaven  with  shouting, 
Grace,  grace  unto  it,  there  may  be  required,  to  give  it  its  greatest 
strength  and  beauty,  souls  of  very  different  capacities. 

VII.  It  is  then  obvious  that  we  are  ourselves  selecting  the  posi- 
tion we  shall  occupy  in  heaven,  if  any.     On  our  industry  will  de- 


THE    NATURE    AND    RESULTS    OF    SA NOTIFICATION.  419 

pend  our  growth ;  and  on  our  growth  our  station  in  the  kingdom 
of  the  Redeemer.  And  how  can  men  be  indifferent  what  is  the 
position  they  shall  hold  among  the  redeemed  in  heaven !  Increas- 
ing holiness  bears  its  present  fruits,  gives  its  immediate  as  well  as 
its  future  rewards.  In  what  other  enterprise,  then,  shall  we  be  so 
ambitious  to  succeed  as  in  this  1  If  there  is  any  one  thing  sur- 
prising above  all  others,  it  is  that  believers  in  Christ  should  be 
slow  to  put  on  his  image.  The  Psalmist  would  never  be  satisfied 
till  he  awaked  from  death  in  the  likeness  of  his  Redeemer.  There 
is  surely  no  joy  like  that  which  is  begotten  by  a  holy  temper  : — 
hence,  how  can  one  who  has  tasted  this  joy,  find  any  other  plea- 
sures, which,  for  a  single  hour,  can  become  its  substitute  1  Let 
me  close  by  presenting  a  few  motives  to  engaging  with  ardor  in 
this  heavenly  enterprise. 

1.  I  have  hinted  that  we  shall  be  happy  in  proportion  as  we  are 
holy.     We  are  mistaken  in  supposing  that  any  particular  circum- 
stances are  requisite  to  render  us  happy.     There  is  but  one  thing 
requisite,  likeness  to  Jesus  Christ.     And  this  is  a  happiness  within 
the  reach  of  us  all,  in  proportion  as  we  are  willing  to  exercise  his 
temper,  and  copy  his  example,  and  put  on  his  image.     Hence  that 
rich  and  precious  intimation,  "  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory." 

2.  We  shall  be  useful,  other  things  being  equal,  in  proportion  as 
we  are  holy.     No  good  man  can  be  satisfied  who  feels  himself  to 
be  living  to  no  purpose.     Find  me  the  Christian  who  is  never  hap- 
py, and,  sure  as  life,  he  is  never  useful.     He  is  a  cumberer  of  the 
ground,  and  can  never  reflect  on  the  day  that  has  gone  by  with 
pleasure.     The  man  who  is  not  aiming  to  bless  his  generation  may 
dig  after  comforts,  but  he  can  never  find  them.     He  may  read  all 
the  promises  over,  day  by  day,  but  there  will  not  be  found  a  word 
of  consolation  for  him.     He  might  derive  more  from  some  act  of 
real  Christian  benevolence,  than  he  does  from  a  whole  Bible  full 
of  consolations  :  and  to  be  holy  is  the  way  to  be  useful.     To  fol- 
low Christ  has  an  eloquence  in  it  that  no  exhortation,  nor  argu- 
ment can  hold  out.     "  Be  ye  followers  of  me,  as  dear  children." 

3.  There  is  dignity  and  character  in  being  holy,  that  nothing  else 
can  produce.     What  man  is  great  like  him  who  walks  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  exercising  the  same  affections  that  Christ  does  1    In 
what  matter  should  not  men  feel  indifferent,  rather  than  be  willing  to 
be  losers  in  this  mighty  concern  1     How  can  it  seem  a  small  thing, 
whether  we  put  on,  or  not,  the  character  that  glows  in  the  view 
of  heaven  1  the  character  that  he  wears  who  receives  the  homage 


4-20  THE   NATURE   AND    BESULTS   OF    SANCTIFICATION, 

of  all  the  redeemed,  and  is  adored  by  cherubim  and  seraphim  7 
How  comparatively  trifling  a  matter  is  it,  that  we  are  honorable  in 
the  estimation  of  those  who  judge  according  to  the  outward  ap- 
pearance. The  apostle  could  say  to  his  enemies,  It  is  a  small 
thing  that  I  should  be  judged  of  you,  or  of  man's  judgment.  How 
noble  his  character,  while  he  thus  regarded  supremely  the  inward 
adornings  of  holiness !  Would  we  then  aim  at  character — charac- 
ter that  will  stand  the  test  when  worlds  are  burned  up — let  us 
press  on  after  HOLINESS. 


SERMON    XXXVI. 

THE  MEANS  OF  SANCTIFICATION. 

JOHN   XVII.    17. 
Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth  ;  thy  word  is  truth. 

THE  grand  purpose  for  which  God  gave  to  men  a  revelation  of 
his  will,  was,  that  the  truth  thus  revealed  might  be  the  medium  of 
their  sanctification.  It  is  hence  spoken  of  as  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  the  Sanctifier.  If  it  be  asked,  Why  God  does  not  make 
men  holy  without  the  use  of  truth,  we  answer,  that  he  would  not 
thus  treat  them  as  moral  agents.  There  must  be  in  that  case  a 
mere  act  of  his  sovereignty,  and  man  become  virtuous  without  de- 
sign. Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  keeping  within  the  record  to 
say,  that  men  cannot  be  saved  without  a  knowledge  of  Divine 
truth,  in  consistency  with  the  nature  God  has  given  them,  and  the 
heaven  he  has  provided  for  holy  beings.  The  very  nature  of  holi- 
ness implies  that  men  have  felt  the  force  of  truth,  and  yielded 
voluntarily  to  its  influence.  To  repent  implies,  that  we  see  the 
truths,  that  the  law  is  good,  and  that  we  have  broken  it,  while  we 
were  under  the  most  sacred  obligations  to  obey  it.  And  faith  im- 
plies, that  we  feel  distinctly  the  truths,  that  we  are  lost,  that 
Christ  is  able  and  willing  to  save,  and  has  warranted  us  to  make 
application  to  him.  Hence  men  cannot  be  forcibly  made  to  repent 
and  believe,  not  acting  themselves,  voluntarily,  in  view  of  truth, 
without  an  infringement  of  their  agency.  Or,  rather,  such  faith 
and  repentance,  if  we  could  suppose  its  existence,  would  not  be 
their  own  act,  and  could  not,  on  the  Gospel  plan,  avail  them  to 
salvation.  Let  us  then  inquire,  how  and  why  Divine  truth  is  used  in 
rendering  men  holy. 

I.  It  presents  to  view  the  objects  of  holy  affection.  To  love 
God  is  a  holy  affection.  But  God  cannot  be  loved,  till  men  are 
acquainted  with  his  character.  In  his  word,  his  character  is  all 
presented.  Had  we  no  Bible,  we  might  see  his  mighty  power  and 
Godhead  in  the  works  of  creation ;  but  only  in  the  oracles  of  God 
do  we  see  his  whole  character.  There  every  attribute  is  written, 


422  THE    MEANS    OF    SANGUIFICATION. 

and  the  full  Deity  made  known.  JVbw,  if  we  have  that  temper  to 
which  goodness  is  lovely,  we  shall  not  fail  to  love  him. 

The  complete  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is,  in  the  same 
book  of  God,  revealed  for  our  faith.  We  can  see  for  ourselves, 
whether  he  has  those  attributes  we  can  love,  and  is  such  a  Savior 
as  we  can  trust  in.  There  could  be  no  faith  in  him  without  this 
delineation  of  his  character. 

The  Christian  character,  also,  is  presented  in  the  Bible,  as  the 
object  of  our  affectionate  regard.  We  there  learn  the  divine  law, 
and  have  opportunity  to  approve  :  and  the  same  may  be  said  in 
reference  to  every  holy  object  on  which  God  requires  us  to  place 
our  esteem. 

And  we  learn,  too,  in  the  same  book,  the  objects  we  are  required 
to  hate  ;  for  holiness  consists  in  feeling  disgust  towards  the  ob- 
jects of  unrighteousness,  as  well  as  complacency  in  righteous- 
ness. There  we  learn  the  temper  of  our  hearts,  and  all  the  moral 
wrong  in  ourselves  that  we  are  to  loathe  and  repent  of.  Thus  a 
primary  use  of  truth  in  our  sanctification  is  to  present  us  with  the 
character  of  the  objects  toward  which  we  are  to  exercise  holy 
affections,  the  objects  we  are  required  to  love,  and  the  objects  we 
are  required  to  hate. 

II.  Another  use  of  truth  is  to  present  motives  to  the  exercise  of 
the  right  affections.  The  Bible  amply  assures  us,  that  holiness  is 
a  lovely  attribute  of  character.  It  is  what  renders  God  lovely, 
and  angels,  and  the  whole  family  of  the  redeemed.  Hence  holi- 
ness is  indispensable  to  good  character ;  and  here  is  a  motive  to 
aim  at  a  high  standard  of  holiness. 

The  Bible  assures  us,  that  only  where  there  is  holiness  there  is 
happiness.  This  begets  the  peace  and  joy  that  reign  in  heaven; 
while  its  opposite  has  occasioned  the  ruin  of  this  world,  and  the 
miseries  of  hell.  These  facts  are  so  amply  illustrated  in  the  word 
of  God,  as  to  show  the  loveliness  of  virtue,  and  the  hatefulness  of 
vice,  thus  presenting  us  new  motives  to  become  holy.  The  Bible 
presents  motives  to  holiness,  by  drawing  out  holiness  and  depravity 
to  their  final  result -in  heaven  and  in  hell.  In  the  one  world,  holi- 
ness has  produced  its  full  effect  in  the  everlasting  peace  and  bless- 
edness of  its  population ;  in  the  other,  too,  its  full  effect  in  the 
unspeakable  misery  of  its  hopeless  inmates.  Thus  Bible  truth 
presents  men  with  motives  to  become  holy,  and  being  urged  home 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  understanding  and  conscience,  is 
the  medium  of  sanctification. 


THE    MEANS    OF    SANCTIFICATION.  4<23 

III.  As  holiness  must  beget  the  love  of  holiness,  it  must  also 
produce  love  to  that  truth  which  is  the  medium  of  its  own  produc- 
tion.    The  Christian,  then,  wishing  to  progress  in  that  holiness 
which  is  begun  in  him,  will  be  the  friend  of  Bible  truth,  will  aim 
to  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  it.     A's  this  is  seen  to  be  the  medium 
of  his  cleansing,  and  as  he  now  aspires  to  be  clean,  he  must  desire 
to  know  more  of  truth.     All  Bible  truth  will  please  him,  for  it  all 
has  one   and  the  same  effect,  his  cleansing.     He  will  thus  be  a 
diligent  student  of  the  Bible,  and  will  never  feel  that  he  knows 
enough  of  it,  while  there  remains  in  his  heart  or  life  one  moral 
pollution  to  be  cleansed  away. 

IV.  It  will  follow  then,  of  course,  that  the  Christian  who  is  a 
child  in  Bible  knowledge,  will  be  a  child  in  holiness.     To  the  same 
extent  that  he  remains  ignorant  of  divine  truth,  he  will  remain  un- 
sanctified ;  and  men  will  learn^i/ithout  inquiring  of  him,  how  much 
attention  he  gives  the  sacred  Wlume.     Apparent  exceptions  to  this 
position  are  easily  explained.     We  have  seen  men  of  small  intel- 
lect and  small  acquisitions  in  science,  generally,  who  yet  appeared 
to  be  rapidly  growing  in  holiness.     In   such  cases,  it  will  always 
be  found,  on  a  close  acquaintance,  that,  though  the  man  may  have 
no  general  knowledge,  he  is  daily  conversant  with  the  testimonies 
of  the  Lord.     If  one  will  learn  sanctifying  truth,  he  may  become 
sanctified,  though  he  may  remain  ignorant  of  other  truth.     We  fre- 
quently meet  with  the  contrast  of  this  case;  men  possessing  a 
large  amount  of  general  knowledge,  but  knowing  little  about  their 
Bible  ;  in  which  case  there  will  not  be  seen  much  advancement  in 
the  stature  of  piety.     If  we  are  acquainted  merely  with  men  and 
money ;  though  we  may  be  acute  worldlings,  this  knowledge  will 
not  tend  to  purify  the  heart.     The  knowledge  that  will  render  us 
holy  is  to  be  gathered  from  the  word  of  the  Lord.    "  Sanctify  them 
through  thy  truth." 

V.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  truth  unquestionable  that  the  man-  who 
is  under  the  process  of  sanctification,  will  have  an  increasing  thirst 
for  a  knowledge  of  divine  truth,  till  he  dies.     As  the  heart  be- 
comes purified,  the  love  of  truth,  the  means  of  its  purifying,  must 
increase.     And  let  the  thirst  for  truth  increase,  and  it  needs  no  ar- 
gument to  prove  that  men  will  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  it.     We 
shall  find,  then,  no  believer  who  thinks  he  knows  enough  of  the 
Bible,  no  man,  however  old,  or  infirm,  or  poor,  or  occupied,  or 
neglected,  if  he  has  begun  to  be  sanctified,  who  will  not  wish,  by 


THE   MEANS    OF    SANCTIFICATION. 

learning  more  truth,  to  nourish  the  spiritual  life  that  is  begun. 
More  and  more,  as  the  cleansing  operation  goes  on,,  and  he  feels 
the  pleasure  of  being  holy,  will  his  mind  be  open  to  conviction, 
and  the  truth  become  adapted  to  his  taste  as  the  honey  and  the 
honeycomb.  The  love  of  truth,  in  the  aged  believer,  becomes  his 
strongest  appetite.  Old  men  are  not  accustomed,  you  know,  to 
abandon,  in  their  latter  years,  the  objects  of  their  appetite.  How 
often  do  they  rather  become  the  slaves  of  some  strong  governing 
principle,  which  is  seen  at  last  to  be  mightier  in  death  than  ever ! 
And  in  the  man  of  God,  who  is  struggling  with  his  corruptions, 
and  desperately  bent  on  the  mastery,  the  appetite  for  truth  must 
be  the  ruling  passion  while  his  eye  can  see  or  his  ear  hear,  or  his 
mind  perceive,  or  his  heart  and  conscience  be  impressed.  He  will 
carry  his  Bible  with  him  to  his  death-bed,  and  put  it  by  his  pillow, 
and  glance  his  dying  eye  upon  its  pages,  and  ask  the  by-standers 
to  teach  him,  and  will  be  digesting  some  heavenly  truth  when  life 
goes  out ;  and  the  nourishment  afforded  his  soul,  by  that  last  re- 
flection, will  add  the  finishing  stroke  to  his  sanctification.  How 
can  it  be  otherwise  ]  Whomsoever  it  may  condemn,  though  it 
tear  from  myself  the  last  hope  I  have,  still  it  must  be  true,  that  as 
grace  advances  in  the  heart,  the  love  of  truth  will  be  enkindled. 
As  there  can  be  no  natural  health,  and  the  body  cannot  be  strong 
and  vigorous  after  the  appetite  is  gone ;  so  is  there  no  spiritual 
health,  and  the  inner  man  is  sickly  and  nerveless,  where  there  is 
no  relish  for  truth.  The  case  cannot  be,  where  there  is  growth  in 
grace  accompanied  with  a  disrelish  for  the  study  of  divine  truth. 

i 

VI.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  it  cannot  be  a  light  thing  to  reject, 
or  disrelish  any  doctrine  of  the  Bible.  Every  doctrine  must  have 
its  use  in  rendering  men  holy,  else  it  had  not  been  taught  in  that 
Bible  sent  to  sanctify  the  world.  God  knew  exactly  what  the  case 
required,  what  system  of  truth  the  Spirit  could  use  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage, in  rendering  the  world  holy,  and  this  he  has  published. 
Hence,  no  part  of  it  may  be  rejected  as  unwholesome,  or  innutri- 
tious.  Suppose  a  table  spread,  day  by  day,  by  one  who  perfectly 
knew  our  constitutions,  knew  any  disease  that  might  be  lurking 
about  the  body,  or  any  danger  of  the  season  or  the  climate  that 
needed  to  be  guarded  against,  and  we  should  presume  to  say,  that 
one  article  upon  the  table  was  injurious  to  health,  and  never  taste 
it ;  how  exactly  would  the  case  resemble  that  of  the  man  who  ima- 
gines he  has  found,  in  the  book  of  sanctifying  truth,  one  doctrine 
of  pernicious  tendency.  How  arrogant,  in  the  preacher  of  the 


TilE    MEANS    OF    SANCTIFICATIOJN.  425 

gospel,  to  lay  his  hand  on  any  doctrine  which  he  may  not  preach, 
or  any  duty  he  may  not  enforce,  or  promise  or  threatening  which 
he  may  not  deal  out  to  the  friends  or  the  foes  of  God !  And  how 
mistaken  his  people,  who  would  have  him  suppress  any  paragraph, 
or  hold  back  any  doctrine  or  maxim  of  the  word  of  the  Lord ! 
Who  can  judge  as  well  as  he  who  gave  the  word  1  Who,  among 
the  army  that  publish  it,  or  the  multitude  who  hear  it,  can  tell  bet- 
ter than  he,  what  kind  of  truth  is  suited  to  the  exigency  of  a  be- 
trayed and  ruined  world  1 

VII.  It  would  seem,  then,  a  matter  of  course,  that  sanctification 
will  be  going  on  among  the  various  classes  of  Christians,  more  or 
less  prosperously,  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  truth  embraced 
in  their  system.     We  may  even  determine,  by  this  criterion,  what 
denomination  is  built  the  most  substantially  on  the  foundation  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  cor- 
ner-stone.    There  may  be  in  a  human  system  some  truth,  but  not 
the  whole  truth.     There  may  be  so  much  error  as  shall  greatly 
counteract  the  effect  of  truth.     The  system  thus  made  out  may  be 
somewhat  calculated  to  sanctify  ;  and  yet  not  the  best  calculated.  It 
may  nourish  a  sickly  and  palsied  religion,  while  it  can  never  pro- 
duce the  strong,  and  vigorous,  and  useful  man  of  God.     It  may 
contain  truth  enough  to  bring  men  to  heaven,  and  yet  never  pro- 
duce, to  shine  in  the  firmament  of  God,  many  stars  of  the   first 
magnitude.     In  choosing  our  religion  this  one  question  should  be 
kept  prominently  in  view :  which  is  that  that  makes  the  most  en- 
lightened, the  most  benevolent,  the  most  holy  and  heavenly  temper  1 
for  there  we  shall  assuredly  find  the  most  truth  and  the  least  error. 

VIII.  Might  not  believers  be  sooner  ripe  for  heaven  1  or,  rather, 
might  they  not  all  be  qualified  in  the  time  that  God  allows  them, 
after  their  second  birth,  for  a  higher  seat  in  heaven  than  they  do 
ordinarily  reach  1     Yes.     They  could  learn  more  truth,  could  learn 
it  faster,  and  digest  it  better,  and  grow  more  vigorously,  and  pass 
earlier  the  boundaries  of  Christian  childhood,  and  thus  arrive  ear- 
lier at  the  fulness  of  the  stature  of  perfect  men  in  Christ  Jesus. 

REMARKS. 

1.  May  not  that  truth  which  is  learned  before  regeneration,  oper- 
ate afterward  to  the  forwarding  of  the  believer  in  holiness  1  Yes. 
It  matters  not  how  early  truth  is  known.  Give  it  then  a  free  en- 
trance at  the  first  opening  of  the  mind,  and  pray  that  it  may  please 
the  Spirit  of  God  to  use  it  for  sanctification.  The  smallest  lad  in 
54 


426  THE    MEANS    OF    SANCT1FICATION. 

the  school  may  be  learning  now  what  will  be  useful  and  precious 
truth  to  him,  when  he  shall  be  shining  a  mighty  orb  in  his  profes- 
sion, or  afterward  in  heaven. 

2.  Is  there  not  more  hope,  then,  that  the  children  in  our  Sab- 
bath-schools will  be  converted,  than  those  who  are  to-day  lining 
the  fields,  and  fishing  along  the  banks  of  the  brook  1     No  doubt. 
They  will  have  treasured  up  truth  to  exert  a  sanctifying  and  ele- 
vating influence  when  the  times  of  refreshing  shall  come  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord. 

3.  Will  not  revivals  prevail  in  the  next  generation,  among  a 
younger  class  of  sinners  than  in  times  past  1     Doubtless.     As  we 
approach  the  millenium,  and  the   Sabbath- schools  shall  have  ma- 
tured minds  earlier  for  reading  and  reflecting,  a  younger  and  still 
younger  generation  will  be   sanctified,  till  our  revivals  will  all  be 
in  the  Sabbath-schools  j    and  God  will  at  length  ordain  praise, 
according  to  his  promise,  from  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings. 

4f.  And  shall  we  not  have  then  in  our  churches  more  active 
young  men,  and  a  race  of  fathers  and  mothers  that  shall  shine 
brighter  in  the  Church  of  God  1  Yes,  young  men  will  be  indeed 
"  strong,"  and  the  patriarchal  age  will  return,  and  every  gray  head 
will  indicate  the  presence  of  wisdom  and  holiness  ;  thus,  there  will 
be  far  more  select  and  pure  assemblages  for  the  supper  of  the  Lamb. 

5.  And  will  not  this  be  then  a  holier  and  happier  world  1     So 
the  prophet  sung :  "  The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and 
the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid,  and  the  calf,  and  the  young 
lion,  and  the  fatling  together,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them." 

6.  And  will  there  not  then  ascend  to  God  nobler  recruits  of  the 
family  of  believers  than  in  any  of  the  ages  that  have  gone  by  1 
Yes ;  new  constellations  will  appear  in  heaven.     And  the  various 
successions  of  the  sanctified  that  shall  then,  at  different  times, 
come  home  to  glory,  will  for  ever  shine  more  brilliantly  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father. 

7.  And  can  we  do  nothing  to  hasten  on  that  day,  and  swell  the 
hallelujahs  of  heaven  1     Yes ;  let  us  seize  the  dear  youth  or  child, 
who  a  year  or  two  hence  will  feel  himself  too  old  to  be  a  scholar, 
and  press  him  into  the   Sabbath-school  and  Bible  class,  and  have 
his  mind  imbued  with  holy  truth,  before  he   gets  that  palsying 
maxim,  "  too  o/c/."     Let  us  all  gird  ourselves  anew ;  let  us  cheer- 
fully discharge  every  obligation ;  and  let  it  be  our  holy  ambition 
to  share  largely  in  the  coming  glory.     They  that  be  wise  shall  shine 
as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  right- 
eousness, as  the  stars  for  ever  and  eve)'. 


SERMON    XXXVII. 

THE  GREAT  PHYSICIAN. 

PSALMS  cm.  3. 
Who  healeth  all  thy  diseases. 

THIS  Psalm  appears  to  have  been  a  song  of  thanksgiving  on  being 
recovered  from  sickness.  Hence  it  is  full  of  those  tender  recol- 
lections that  are  prone  to  recur  to  the  pious  mind  in  such  a  sea- 
son." "  He  will  not  always  chide,  neither  will  he  keep  his  anger 
for  ever."  "  He  hath  not  dealt  with  us  after  our  sins,  nor  rewarded 
us  according  to  our  iniquities."  "  Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  child- 
ren, so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  him :  for  he  knoweth  our 
frame,  he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust." 

With  a  mind  filled  with  such  reflections,  David  came  with  his 
thank-offering  to  God,  and  called  upon  his  soul,  and  all  that  was 
within  him,  to  bless  that  infinite  goodness  which  preserved  him  in 
the  time  of  his  calamity.  It  is,  however,  quite  immaterial  on  what 
occasion  the  Psalmist  ascribes  to  God  the  praise  of  healing  all  his 
diseases. 

In  nothing,  perhaps,  can  pious  minds  see  more  distinctly  the 
good  hand  of  God,  than  in  the  plagues  and  pains  to  which  sin  has 
subjected  their  dying  bodies. 

I.  Disease  itself  affords  us  one  of  our  richest  luxuries.  This 
remark  will  seem  more  paradoxical  than  it  really  is.  But  I  pre- 
sume no  one  who  has  been  laid  upon  the  bed  of  pain,  will  consider 
the  proposition  false.  There  are  moments,  when,  as  the  poet  sings, 

We  shift  from  side  to  side  by  turns, 

And  'tis  a  poor  relief  we  gain, 

To  change  the  place  but  keep  the  pain. 

In  the  attacks  of  disease,  the  jaded  spirit  is  restless  and  perhaps 
rebellious.  A  day  has  sometimes  seemed  an  age,  and  a  night  a 
little  eternity.  The  sun  has  seemed  to  stop  in  his  course,  and 
the  moon  has  delayed  her  going  down.  The  index  that  told  of 
the  passing  hours,  seemed  riveted  to  the  point  where  it  stood. 


428  THE    GREAT    PHYSICIAN. 

But  the  paroxism  subsides,  and  the  pleasure  then  felt  in  a  single 
moment,  outweighs  an  hour  of  perfect  health.  To  be  able  to 
breathe  without  a  groan,  is  then  more  pleasant,  than  when  one 
may  wander  the  fields  in  May,  and  catch  the  richest,  softest  zephyr 
that  ever  fanned  creation.  In  these  precious  intervals,  every 
minute  gathers  the  comforts  of  an  hour,  and  every  hour  the  plea- 
sures of  a  month.  It  is  impossible  to  describe,  to  one  who  has 
not  known  the  joy  of  a  kind  and  timely  release  from  the  fierceness 
of  disease,  the  exquisite  enjoyments  of  such  an  hour.  And  in  this 
we  see  the  goodness  of  God.  "  Sorrow  may  endure  for  a  night, 
but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning."  There  may  remain  still  great 
weakness,  and  much,  that  in  other  circumstances,  would  be  called 
distress ;  but  this  is  all  forgotten  amid  the  luxury  of  a  temporary 
release,  and  a  hope  still  better.  One  that  has  entirely  escaped 
those  severe  attacks  which  immediately  strip  life  of  its  comforts, 
darkens  every  prospect,  and  unhinges  the  mind  from  the  pursuit 
of  science,  friendship,  and  piety,  has  failed  to  enjoy  one  of  the 
sweetest  repasts  ever  tasted,  except  in  some  hours  of  divine  re- 
freshment. Now,  how  good  is  God,  that,  since  we  deserve  and 
expect  to  be  scourged,  he  should  mingle,  with  the  pains  and  mis- 
eries of  the  sick-bed,  such  high  enjoyments  !  Should  enable  us  to 
extract  from  the  very  agonies  of  a  tortured  body,  high  and  precious 
delights  !  If  I  should  look  through  the  fields  of  creation,  for  some 
one  high  and  paramount  testimony  of  the  Divine  beneficence,  be- 
side the  gift  a  Savior,  I  should  despair  of  finding  one  that  would 
lead  me  more  promptly  to  absolute  assurance  of  God's  love,  than 
I  am  led  by  the  seasons  of  gracious  relief  that  interlard  the  ago- 
nies of  the  sick-bed.  But  for  these  relaxations  from  suffering, 
how  soon  would  nature  sink,  even  by  the  slightest  disease  !  How 
many  days  would  one  endure  the  unceasing  rage  of  a  burning 
fever  1  the  perpetual  throbbing  of  a  mangled  limb  1  the  gripe  of  a 
cholic  1  or  even  the  aching  of  a  tooth  ?  How  soon  would  life  go 
out  in  agony,  with  any  disease  that  attacks  us,  did  not  nature  re- 
cruit her  strength,  while  the  disease  intermits  its  rage.  A  few 
hours,  when  the  pains  have  been  unceasing,  have  often  brought  to 
the  sepulchre  the  very  champions  of  our  race,  men  who  had  seemed 
to  defy  death,  in  any  other  armor,  but  the  forked  lightning,  or  the 
eruptions  of  some  treacherous  ./Etna  or  Vesuvius. 

Now,  God  would  have  been  good,  if  his  judgments  had  not  been 
so  mingled  with  mercy  ;  if  diseases  had  never  quit  the  contest  till 
life  was  conquered,  or  the  hand  of  God  stayed'the  plague.  Then 
the  aching  tooth  had  proved  mortal,  and  an  infection  of  the  small- 


THE    GREAT    PHYSICIAN.  429 

est  joint  had  in  a  few  days  carried  putrefaction  to  the  very  foun- 
tain of  life.  Hence,  we  can  make  no  calculation  as  to  the  proba- 
ole  issue  of  any  disease.  If  the  disease  makes  its  attack  at  some- 
what distant  periods,  nature  has  time  to  recruit  and  to  heal,  but  if 
there  be  no  periods  of  respite,  the  scene  is  soon  closed. 

II.  We  see  Divine  goodness  in  the,  efforts  that  nature  makes  to  ef- 
fect her  own  cure.  On  this  point,  perhaps,  the  physician  could  in- 
struct you  more  than  the  Divine  ;  and  the  fact  is  obvious,  to  every 
discerning  mind,  that  nature  is  often  her  own  best  physician.  Many 
of  the  remedies  which  ignorance  prescribes  in  the  hour  of  sick- 
ness and  of  death,  are  so  many  barriers  to  the  speedy  return  of 
health.  The  limb  that  has  been  wounded  by  the  luckless  knife, 
would  often  heal  in  a  few  hours,  if  the  wound  could  be  bathed 
only  with  its  own  blood,  and  the  severed  fibres  be  permitted  to 
join  their  wounded  parts.  How  soon  will  the  fractured  bone  join 
its  broken  parts,  and  become  as  firm  as  before !  How  often  will 
nature  create  some  new  disease,  that  it  may  rid  itself  of  the  dan- 
gers and  the  miseries  engendered  by  some  other !  The  palate 
takes  disgust  at  food,  when  the  stomach  has  lost  its  power  to  di- 
gest ;  and  the  food,  if  received,  would  endanger  life.  How  often, 
when  the  stomach  has  received  the  deadly  potion,  which  to  re- 
tain would  be  quick  destruction,  does  it  exert  all  its  power  to  cast 
back  the  poison  and  keep  life  in  its  seat !  The  very  thorn  that 
pierces  the  plowman's  foot,  is  thrown  from  its  unwelcome  bed  by 
nature's  own  efforts. 

Were  I  more  of  a  physician,  I  should  love  to  enlarge  this  arti- 
cle— it  develops  the  goodness  of  God.  Many  are  wounded  when 
no  surgeon  is  near;  many  are  subjected  to  disease  who  are  una- 
ble to  employ  a  physician  ;  and  it  often  happens  that  he  who  should 
cure  is  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  disease,  and  plies  all  his  skill 
to  prevent  nature  from  doing  her  office.  In  these  distressing  cases, 
it  often  happens  that  nature  cures  herself.  She  attacks  the  disease, 
and,  in  spite  of  every  hindrance,  conquers  and  cures. 

Brethren,  when  1  thus  speak  of  nature,  I  do  not  use  that  word 
as  many  do,  who  intend  to  exclude  a  God  from  his  own  creation. 
By  nature,  I  mean  the  unseen  operation  of  his  hand  who  healeth 
all  our  diseases ;  1  mean  God  himself,  operating  by  certain  laws 
which  he  has  indented  upon  every  part  of  our  frame.  The  cure 
is  effected  without  a  miracle,  but  not  without  the  finger  of  God. 
This  we  learn  from  the  text.  If  we  had  to  wait  when  attacked  by 
disease,  till  some  angel  came  from  heaven  with  the  appropriate 


430  THE    GREAT   PHYSICIAN. 

specific,  or  till  God  himself  spoke,  as  he  did  in  Israel's  camp,  and 
bid  the  disease  abate,  we  should  be  no  more  dependent  than  now 
on  the  immediate  agenjsy  of  God.  This  is  the  very  thought  of 
the  text  David,  when.diseased,  was  cured  like  other  men,  by  the 
laws  of  matter,  and  by  human  means  5  still  he  takes  occasion  to 
bless  and  praise  Jehovah  as  him  who  healeth  all  our  diseases. 

III.  The  great  variety  of  specifics  found  in  every  part  of  the  crea- 
tion, for  the  various  diseases  of  men,  speak  the  Divine  goodness. 
Probably  there  is  not  a  plant  or  shrub  that  grows  but  yields  us 
either  food  or  medicine.     The  severest  poisons  are,  at  length,  in 
many  instances,  considered   the    safest  and  speediest   remedies. 
They  have  almost  all  become  tame  and  manageable,  and,  like  food 
itself,  are  hurtful  only  when  taken  without  due  regard  to  time  and 
quantity.     The  discoveries  of  every  year  add  new  light  to  this  in- 
teresting subject.     The  mineral  and  vegetable  kingdoms  are  con- 
stantly pouring  their  treasures  into  the  chamber  of  distress.     And 
there  seems  an  almJst  inexhaustible  variety.     Hence  they  furnish 
a  specific  for  every  disease.     Even  that  most  dire  of  all  plagues, 
the  hydrophobia,  a  disease  which  I  can  scarcely  mention  without 
horror,  is  thought  at  length  to  yield  to  the  virtue  of  one  plant, 
very  common  in  all  countries.  ,  If  the  serpent  bite,  the  remedy  is 
found  on  the  spot.     If  one  plant  has  poisoned  us,  there  is  another 
growing  by  its  side  that  can  counteract  its  influence.     In  some  in- 
stances, two  of  the  deadliest  substances  are,  when  united,  not  only 
harmless,  but  wholesome.     The   same  shower  and  the  same  sun- 
shine caused  the  poison  and  the  antidote  to  vegetate  side  by  side. 
They  grow  like  brethren,  perhaps  resemble  each  other,  but  one  has 
the  power  to  kill  and  the  other  to  heal. 

Now  in  all  this  how  good  is  God !  He  could  have  sent  the 
plague  without  the  remedy,  the  poison  without  the  antidote.  It 
would  be  our  shame  if  we  could  withhold  our  praise,  and  yet  live 
in  a  world  so  full  of  the  glory  of  God,  where  every  plant  and  shrub 
and  mineral  speaks  his  praise,  and  every  disease  yields  to  the  spe- 
cific he  prescribes. 

IV.  It  still  is  true  that  it  is  God  who  healeth  all  our  diseases. 
But  for  that  wisdom  which  he  has  given  to  man,  physicians  could 
never  have  known  their  nature,  or  the  virtue  of  those  plants  and 
minerals  which  are  their  appointed  remedy.     And  his  blessing 
makes  the  means  effectual.    We  can  rely  nowhere  else.    The  phy- 
sician often  confesses  that  nothing  operates  as  he  expected.     He 


THE    GREAT    PHYSICIAN.  431 

fears  he  is  destroying  the  patient  he  wishes  to  cure.  And  often, 
when  his  skill  has  failed,  the  patient  given  over  to  death,  and  the 
grave-clothes  preparing,  God  bids  the  patient  live,  and  he  returns 
to  health.  Nor  should  it  derogate  from  his  glory,  when  he  bless- 
es the  means,  for,v  still,  his  own  agency  performs  the  cure.  Heze- 
kiah  was  sick  unto  'death  ;  a  prophet  of  the  Lord  was  directed  to 
assure  him,  that  he  should  die.  But  he  cried  and  prayed,  and  a 
respite  of  fifteen  years  was  granted  him.  The  event  was  now  cer- 
tain, and  still  a  bundle  of  figs  must  be  the  means  of  his  cure.  But 
was  it  any  the  less  God  that  healed  him  1  Had  the  figs  any  power, 
independently  on  Him  who  had  arrested  the  hand  of  death,  and 
prolonged  the  life  of  the  king! 

The  pious  heart  will  have  no  misgivings  on  this  point.  Our 
life,  our  health,  and  all  our  comforts,  are  in  the  hands  of  God. 
"  He  killeth  and  he  maketh  alive,  he  bringeth  low  and  raiseth  up." 
It  is  good  to  feel  that  we  are  the  creatures  of  his  power ;  espe- 
cially when  we  may  hope,  that  we  are  the  subjects  of  his  grace. 

REMARKS. 

1.  A  period  of  recovery  from  sickness  should  be  a  season  of 
praise.     If  we  have  misery  in  prospect,  it  fills  us  with  pain  ;  but  we 
can  look  back  upon  a  season  of  great  trial  with  pleasure.     The 
miseries  we  remember  are  gone  by ;  in  retrospect  they  are  soft- 
ened and  are  harmless.     But  we  had  died  had  it  not  been  for  the 
hand  of  God.     We  had  never  risen  from  that  bed,  we  had  never 
enjoyed  returning  health.     The  physician  would  have  mistaken 
our  case,  or  would  have  used  the  wrong  means,  or  would  have 
found  his  specifics  to  be  the  deadliest  poisons.     And  we  had  for- 
feited our  lives,  and  could  look  for  nothing  but  ruin  as  our  desert. 
And  where  had  we  been  if  the  hand  of  God  had  not  been  under 
us  1     To  what  world  had  we  fled  while  some  friend  was   closing 
our  eyes — how  employed,  on  the  day  of  our  funeral  solemnities  1 
"  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within  me  bless  his 
holy  name." 

2.  The  life  that  God  has  made  his  care  should  be  devoted  to 
him.     And  we  have  all  an  interest  in  this  particular.     If  we  have 
never  known  the  attacks  of  disease,  it  was  God  who  purified  the 
air  we  breathed,  and  warded   off  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in 
darkness.     And  if  otherwise,  if  life  has  met  with  some  interrup- 
tion, and  we  have  been  called  occasionally  to  the  sick  bed,  it  was 
God  who  healed  us.     In  either  case  we   are  wholly  the  Lord's. 
Whether  we  feel  our  obligations  or  not,  will  not  alter  the  case. 


432  THE    GREAT    PHYSICIAN. 

God  is  good,  and  deserves  our  service,  whether  we  think  and  feel, 
or  are  thoughtless  and  stupid.  There  is  not  one,  among  all  my 
readers,  that  does  not  love  and  serve  the  Lord,  who  can  escape 
the  charge  of  being  a  wicked  and  slothful  servant.  God  has  made 
you  what  you  are,  and  given  you  all  you  have.  You  live  by  his 
permission,  and  feed  on  his  bounty.  In  these  circumstances,  to 
withhold  your  love  and  your  service,  is  impious.  None  can  be 
wise,  and  refuse  to  present  their  bodies  and  souls  to  him  as  a 
living  sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable  to  God. 

3.  We  see  why  many  have  praised  the  Lord  upon  the  sick  bed. 
It  is  not  a  place  so  destitute  of  comfort  as  many  have  supposed. 
The  fiercer  attacks  of  disease  are  separated  by  intervals,  in  which 
there  are  felt,  independently  of  the  comforts  of  religion,  a  keen 
and  sensible  pleasure ;  but  when  the  heart  is  right  with  God,  and 
these  precious  moments  are  employed  in  lifting  a  prayer,  or  a 
song,  to  his  throne,  I  see  nothing  to  prevent  the  joy  rising  to 
ecstasy.     Even  in  the  dying  hour,  the  little  lucid  intervals  of 
strength  and  reason,  may  witness  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glory.     I  do  not  deny  that  piety  may  operate  even  when  the  pains 
are  on,  and  may  evpn  quench  their  fury  by  its  ecstatic  joy.     But 
such  is  the  immediate  connection  between  the  soul  and  the  body, 
that  neither  can  suffer  alone,  nor  the  joys  of  the  one  fail  to  be 
interrupted  by  the  agonies  of  the  other.     Hence  how  welcome  to 
the  mind  that  longs  for  communion  with  God,  are  these  little  sea- 
sons of  respite. 

4.  The  subject  will  lead  us  to  reflect  with  the  Psalmist,  on  the 
wondrous  mechanism  of  our  natures :  "  I  am  fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made  ;  marvellous  is  thy  loving  kindness,  O  Lord."     There 
is  one  noted  instance  on  record  of  a  physician  who  was  an  infidel, 
till  he  had  occasion  to  dissect  a  human  body.     He  then  declared 
that  he  could  be  an  infidel  no  longer ;  that  he  saw  in  the  structure 
of  the  body  the  traces  of  the  finger  of  God.    But  we  may  all  know 
enough  to  make  us  ashamed  of  our  infidelity,  without  the  aid  of 
surgical  instruments,  or  operations.    When  we  think  of  our  bodies, 
how  delicately  strung,  how  easily  injured,  how  liable  to  disease, 
and  yet,  ordinarily,  how  healthy  and  how  firm,  we  can  ascribe   it 
only  to  God. 

Our  life  contains  a  thousand  springs, 

And  dies  if  one  be  gone  ; 
Strange,  that  a  harp  of  thousand  strings, 

Should  keep  in  tune  so  long. 

But  when  we  rise  higher,  and  contemplate  the  union  of  the  soul 


THE    GREAT    PHYSICIAN.  433 

and  body,  and  survey  the  delicate  ligatures  that  bind  them  toge- 
ther, the  mind  finds  an  enlarged  field  of  dignified  and  pious  con- 
templation. The  numerous  inlets  of  pleasure  5  the  varied  appe- 
tites finding  their  full  enjoyment  in  the  temperate  use  of  the  good 
things  that  God  has  strewed  about  our  path  j  and  our  varied  dis- 
eases finding  their  cure  or  their  alleviations,  in  specifics  that  grow 
under  our  feet,  and  in  addition  to  these  the  pleasures  of  those  very 
sicknesses  that  were  added  in  mercy  j  how  loudly  do  they  pro- 
claim the  beneficence  of  God. 

5.  To  be  thankful,  then,  would  seem  a  first  law  of  nature.  And 
to  be  ungrateful,  a  charge  brought  against  the  whole  heathen  world, 
was  adding  as  the  last  item  to  the  climax  of  our  degradation  and 
ruin.  A  people  rational,  sensitive,  and  immortal,  if  they  have  no 
revelation  of  God,  and  no  hopes  of  a  future  blessedness  beyond 
the  grave,  should  not  have  been  pronounced  ungrateful : — 

"  The  brutes  obey  thy  will, 

And  bow  their  necks  to  men ; 
But  we,  more  base,  more  brutish  things, 
Reject  thine  easy  reign." 

55 


SERMON     XXXVIII. 

THE  MAN  OF  GOD  DEVELOPED. 

JOHN  XV.  19. 
Ye  are  not  of  the  world. 

IT  has  always  been  the  wish  of  the  enemies  of  truth,  to  amalga- 
mate the  Church  with  the  world.  They  gain  by  this  means,  in 
their  estimation,  several  distinct,  and  important  advantages.  Hence 
a  gospel  is  current,  that  bends  all  its  efforts,  to  do  away  the  dis- 
tinctions, between  God's  people,  and  the  men  of  the  world.  The 
Christian  character  is  let  down,  till  all  its  beauty,  and  all  its  hon- 
ors are  in  the  dust.  It  is  plead  that  the  Christian  need  not  differ 
widely  from  other  men.  He  may  retain  his  evil  heart  of  unbelief, 
may  pursue  the  world  as  he  has  done,  may  cultivate  the  same  pride 
of  character,  may  bury  himself  in  scenes  of  dissipation,  and  may 
be,  in  all  respects,  the  same  man  of  the  world,  as  previously  to  his 
hope  and  his  profession.  If  he  should  sometimes  be  profane,  and 
occasionally  gamble,  and  be  habitually  hard,  bordering  upon  ro- 
guery, in  his  commerce,  and  trifle  with  Scripture,  and  sing  a  merry 
song,  or  be  overtaken  by  any  vice  that  is  fashionable,  that  is  not 
low  and  vulgar ;  all  this  is  permitted  to  affix  no  stain  upon  his 
Christian  character. 

He  may  be  in  full  league  with  the  guilty  population  of  the  apos- 
tacy,  need  perform  no  duties,  nor  embrace  any  doctrines,  not  re- 
lished by  the  ungodly,  nor  encompass  himself  with  any  of  that  sa- 
credness  of  character  that  brings  a  sword.  Thus  the  man  of  God 
is  robbed  of  every  feature  of  holiness,  that  can  possibly  distinguish 
him  from  the  mass  of  the  ungodly ;  and  the  men  of  the  world  have 
only  to  adopt  the  creed,  and  make  oath  to  the  covenant,  and  come 
to  the  consecrated  table,  and  the  work  is  done. 

They  need  have  no  knowledge  of  that  new  birth,  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  pressed  upon  Nicodemus ;  need  not  be  translated  out  of 
darkness  into  marvellous  light,  and  from  the  power  of  sin  and  Sa- 
tan unto  God ;  need  not  disturb  themselves  with  repentance,  and 
faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  nor  exhibit  that  transformation  of 
character  which  shall  evince  them  risen  with  Christ,  and  seeking 


THE   MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED.  435 

those  things  that  are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand 
of  God.  Thus  the  Lord  Jesus  is  made  to  martial  a  band  of  mis- 
creants. He  has  the  attitude  of  a  rebellious  prince,  who  mingles 
with  a  multitude  of  rebels,  enlists  them  under  his  banner,  demand- 
ing neither  loyalty  nor  duty,  and  winks  at  all  the  deeds  of  wrong 
and  of  outrage  which  they  have  committed  against  the  throne  and 
the  kingdom.  In  pursuing  the  subject,  /  shall  give  a  Scriptural  ac- 
count of  the  secluded  character  of  believers,  and  show,  that  their  amal- 
gamation with  the  world,  would  both  injure  them,  and  the  ungodly 
with  whom  they  are  associated. 

I.  /  am  to  give  a  Scriptural  account  of  the  secluded  character  of  the 
believer.  Said  an  apostle,  to  those  who  believe  in  Christ,  and  to 
whom  he  is  precious,  "  Ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, a  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people  ;  that  ye  should  show  forth 
the  praises  of  him  who  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into  mar- 
vellous light."  And  said  another  apostle,  "  Be  not  unequally 
yoked  together  with  unbelievers  ;  for  what  fellowship  hath  right- 
eousness with  unrighteousness  ?  and  what  communion  hath  light 
with  darkneisl  and  what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial  1  or 
what  part  hath  he  that  believeth  with  an  infidel  1  and  what  agree- 
ment hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  1  For  ye  are  the  temple 
of  the  living  God ;  as  God  hath  said  I  will  dwell  in  them,  and  walk 
in  them;  and  I  will  be  their  God  and  they  shall  be  my  people. 
Wherefore  come  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith 
the  Lord,  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing ;  and  I  will  receive  you ; 
and  will  be  a  father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, saith  the  Lord  Almighty."  I  have  made  this  long  quotation, 
because  almost  every  clause  bespeaks  the  secluded  character  of 
the  believer. 

Said  our  Lord  to  his  disciples,  "If  ye  were  of  the  world,  the 
world  would  love  his  own ;  but  because  ye  are  not  of  the  worldr 
but  I  have  chosen  you  out  of  the  world,  therefore  shall  the  world 
hate  you."  Often  did  he  say,  that  none  could  be  his  disciples,  but 
such  as  would  deny  themselves,  and  take  up  their  cross  and  follow 
him. 

Now  the  very  idea  of  a  Church,  implies  a  secluded  and  peculiar 
people.  Why  have  any  creed,  or  covenant,  or  discipline,  but  thai 
God's  people  must  have  a  character,  and  perform  duties,  and  sus- 
tain relationships,  that  belong  not  to  the  world  at  large.  I  know 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  they  must  both  grow  together  until  the 
harvest.  God's  people  must  stay  in  this  world  till  they  have  ri- 


4-36  THE   MAN    OF    GOD   DEVELOPED. 

pened  for  heaven  j  but  they  may  be  in  the  world,  and  still  be  the 
secluded,  and  retiring,  and  peculiar,  and  heavenly-minded  people, 
which  God  requires  them  to  be. 

Hence  to  amalgamate  the  Church  with  the  world,  is  to  thwart 
the  Divine  plan,  and  join  what  God  has  sundered.  The  purpose 
of  God  to  give  his  people  at  last  a  world  by  themselves,  and  pub- 
licly separate  them  from  the  ungodly  in  the  scene  of  judgment, 
placing  the  sheep  on  the  right  hand,  and  the  goats  on  the  left ; 
speaks  plainly  that  distinctness  of  character,  interest,  and  condi- 
tion, which  becomes  them,  and  is  enjoined  upon  them,  in  the  pre- 
sent life.  In  no  Scripture  are  they  confounded  with  the  unregen- 
erate.  Their  distinctness  is  kept  up,  through  the  whole  series  of 
epithets  given  them  in  the  book  of  God ;  saint  and  sinner,  clean 
and  unclean,  righteous  and  wicked,  holy  and  unholy,  believer  and 
unbeliever,  godly  and  ungodly. 

II.  The  amalgamation  of  God's  people  with  the  world  will  injure 
them.  Men  have  shown  great  zeal  in  proselyting  the  world  to  a 
visible  fellowship  with  the  church,  as  if  all  that  is  desirable  were 
gained,  when  men  are  brought  to  put  on  the  garb  ofpiety.  But 
assuredly  nothing  is  gained  to  the  Church.  She  receives  no  acces- 
sion of  strength,  or  beauty,  when  the  multitudes  of  the  ungodly 
come  to  her  solemn  feasts,  and  enter  the  enclosures  of  her  cove- 
nant. The  army  of  God  that  goes  out  to  wage  war  with  sin,  and 
darkness,  and  misery,  can  operate  with  far  more  efficiency,  when 
none  are  enlisted  but  the  loyal.  Permit  the  enemy  to  enter  the  sa- 
cred enclosures  of  Zion,  and  what  can  you  hope  for,  but  that  in  the 
time  of  the  seige,  they  will  betray  her  interests,  and  open  her 
gates  to  the  enemy  1 

It  is  when  the  church  is  pure  as  Christ  would  have  her,  that  she 
can  know  her  strength,  and  however  small  her  numbers,  can  de- 
fend her  interests  and  preserve  her  honors.  But  when  polluted 
with  a  mass  of  unregeneracy,  she  is  paralyzed  and  exposed.  She 
moves  to  every  onset,  wielding  a  burden,  that  renders  impossible 
every  prompt  and  vigorous  exertion.  So  the  host  of  Gideon, 
while  it  embraced  thousands  who  were  afraid,  could  achieve  noth- 
ing. The  three  hundred  when  separated  from  the  multitude,  could 
do  more  than  thirty  thousand. 

Our  Lord  preferred  to  be  followed  by  a  little  faithful  band,  rather 
than  an  army  of  ill-chosen  and  ungodly  men.  He  could  have 
gathered  into  his  Church,  if  he  would  have  lowered  his  requisi- 
tions, a  mass  of  Scribes,  and  Pharisees,  and  Saducees,  and  law- 


THE    MAN   OF   GOD    DEVELOPED.  437 

yers.  Had  he  been  less  austere,  to  use  the  term  his  foes  employ- 
ed, he  could  have  swelled  his  little  flock  to  a  countless  multitude, 
and  could  have  selected  from  them  a  soldiery,  that  would  have 
made  him  a  king,  and  built  him  up  an  empire.  Had  he  but  pro- 
claimed, that  he  would  feed  by  miracle  the  multitudes  that  would 
follow  him,  he  could  easily  have  outnumbered  the  army  of  Xerxes, 
and  could  have  obliged  the  world  to  do  him  homage.  But  his 
cause  would  have  suffered,  and  he  could  no  longer  have  said,  that 
his  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world. 

When  the  influence  of  Constantine  poured  in  upon  the  Church 
an  unwieldly  mass  of  nominal  Christianity,  the  result  was  that  the 
sinew  of  action  was  paralyzed.  There  ensued  the  dark  ages,  in 
which  there  was  swept,  from  what  had  been  the  Church,  almost 
the  last  vestige  of  truth  and  holiness.  There  was  more  real  light 
and  strength  in  the  camp  of  that  little  band  which  fled  from  her 
sword  into  the  wilderness,  than  was  found  in  the  whole  Catholic 
communion. 

And  the  same  will  be  the  result  whenever  the  same  experiment 
is  tried.  Bring  down  the  standard  of  piety  till  men  totally  de- 
praved shall  covet  the  children's  bread,  and  you  have  perverted  the 
whole  design  of  a  Christian  Church.  The  equipments  of  the  gos- 
pel no  longer  adorn  her  soldiery,  nor  the  Captain  of  her  salvation 
lead  her  on  to  victory  and  glory.  Hence  the  design  to  break  down 
all  distinction  between  the  children  of  God  and  the  unsanctified, 
and  lead  within  the  enclosures  of  the  Church  a  band  of  God's 
enemies,  is  assuredly  of  all  the  intrigues  of  the  prince  of  darkness, 
one  of  the  most  daring  and  desperate.  While  it  pretends  to 
strengthen  the  Church,  it  makes  a  deep  and  broad  incision  in  her 
arteries,  and  lets  out  her  very  life  blood.  While  it  professes  a 
wish  to  beautify  her,  so  that  the  ungodly  are  charmed  with  her 
visage,  it  does  but  constitute  her  an  image  of  marble,  cold,  blind, 
deaf,  dumb,  and  powerless.  While  it  holds  out  a  wish  to  guard 
her  interests,  to  watch  her  gates,  and  man  her  fortresses  ;  it  does 
but  covenant  with  her  foes,  and  in  the  dark  hour  of  midnight, 
while  her  watchmen  sleep,  gives  the  enemy  possession  of  her 
towers. 

The  men  of  this  world  can  never  be  the  beauty  or  the  strength 
of  Zion.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  have  a  Church,  that  puts  on 
his  image,  and  reflects  his  glory,  that  can  be  a  nursery  for  heaven, 
that  fosters  in  her  bosom  his  own  disciples,  and  will  stand,  her- 
self a  monument  of  his  redeeming  power.  She  is  a  city  set  on  a 
hill,  and  her  light  must  shine.  She  must  have  on  all  the  features 


438  THE    MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED. 

of  beauty  seen  in  her  Master,  and  show  out  to  the  world  every  line 
of  comeliness  found  in  his  image.  There  must  be  written  on  her 
banner,  "  Love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness, 
faith,  meekness,  temperance." 

And  can  all  this  be,  when  the  Church  shall  be  composed  of  un- 
godly men  1  Will  they  put  on  the  image  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
or  act  out  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  or  have  any  light  to  spare,  by 
which  the  darkness  of  this  apostate  world  may  be  illuminated  1 
Can  their  science,  and  their  courteousness,  and  their  high  sounding 
titles,  become  a  substitute  for  the  ornaments  of  the  Spirit  1  Let 
monarchs  come  in  with  their  diadems,  and  princes  with  their  trap- 
pings, and  the  multitudes  of  the  learned  with  their  philosophy,  but 
who  have  none  of  them  been  taught  at  the  feet  of  Jesus ;  and  is 
the  Church  thus  made  beautiful  1  Ah,  it  would  depend  on  who 
saw  her.  She  would  dazzle  the  eye  which  could  look  only  on  the 
outward  appearance,  but  would  be  deformity  and  corruption  in  his 
view  who  looketh  on  the  heart . 

What  will  the  Church  gain  then,  when  she  has  opened  her  bo- 
som to  the  multitude  ?  May  the  believer  look  for  individual  en- 
joyment, from  being  associated  in  covenant  with  those  who  are  wise 
and  honorable  in  this  world  1  Will  such  fellowship  ensure  to  him 
esteem  and  respect,  from  those  who  shall  thus  have  pledged  them- 
selves to  treat  him  as  a  brother  1  We  answer,  no.  When  the  men  of 
the  world  have  put  on  the  garb  of  piety,  facts  assure  us,  that  they 
will  by  their  ungodly  conversation  bring  rebuke  and  shame  upon  the 
Lord's  people  1  Believers  will  not  run  with  them  to  the  same  ex- 
cess of  riot.  Hence  their  scruples  of  conscience,  which  will  still 
render  them  a  peculiar  people,  will  not  fail  to  bring  upon  them  the 
sneer  and  the  contempt,  and  the  buffetings  of  the  whole  proselyt- 
ed brotherhood.  The  stricter  principles,  and  purer  doctrines,  and 
higher  standard  of  Christian  morality,  adopted  by  the  real  disci- 
ples of  the  Lord  Jesus,  will  be  denominated  enthusiasm ;  and  what- 
ever they  may  do  more  than  others,  will  go  to  sink  their  reputa- 
tion, and  cover  them  with  reproach. 

What  then  are  we  to  think  of  that  gospel,  so  called,  which  aims 
at  this,  monstrous  confederacy  1  which  would  flatly  contradict,  or 
artfully  neutralize,  every  requisition  of  discipleship  in  the  family 
of  Christ,  and  thus  mingle  the  Church  with  the  world  1  On  what 
page  of  inspiration  shall  we  find  the  solitary  text,  that  thus  con- 
founds the  Lord's  people  with  the  multitudes  that  know  not  God, 
and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  I  And  who 
would  venture  to  make  such  an  experiment  on  the  life  of  the  church, 


THE    MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED.  439 

unless  unequivocally  instructed  from  heaven  I  Alas,  the  experi- 
ment has  been  made,  and  is  making,  the  Divine  authority  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding.  Many  Churches  are  bleeding  and  expiring 
under  the  operation  of  this  philosophy.  It  has  polluted  their  creed, 
and  changed  their  ministry,  and  robbed  them  of  their  covenant, 
and  thrown  open  the  doors  of  their  fellowship  to  the  wide  world 
The  hedges  of  the  vineyard  are  broken  down,  and  the  result  is, 
that  the  boar  out  of  the  wood  devours  the  vine.  I  proceed  to  say, 

III.  That  the  men  of  the  world  are  injured  no  less  than  the  Church, 
by  this  promiscuous  amalgamation  of  those  who  have  no  similari- 
ty of  temper.  Let  me  remark, 

1.  Jl  profession  of  religion  increases  the  disposition  and  gives  men 
better  opportunities  to  do  mischief:  and  this,  it  will  be  acknowledged, 
is  a  curse,  and  not  a  blessing.  I  know  it  has  been  said  that  the 
enemies  of  the  Church  may  be  restrained,  by  the  gospel  being  so 
accommodated  to  their  taste  as  to  win  them  to  its  faith  and  its  fel- 
lowship. Do  away,  it  is  said,  those  doctrines  that  they  disrelish, 
because  harsh  and  unreasonable,  and  those  traits  of  Christian  cha- 
racter that  give  offence,  and  they  will  all  rush  into  the  fellowship 
of  the  gospel,  and  be  good  and  harmless  Christians  ! 

This  point  the  history  of  the  Church  shall  answer.  Judas  gain- 
ed admission  into  the  fold,  had  access  to  the  Lord  of  glory,  and 
won  the  confidence  of  the  unsuspecting  disciples.  But  Judas  was 
still  a  thief  and  a  devil,  and  became  the  leader  of  that  band,  that 
broke  in  upon  the  retreat  of  prayer,  and  arrested  and  bore  away 
to  the  judgment  seat  the  Son  of  God.  There  probably  was  not 
another  wretch  in  Israel,  who  could  have  pocketed  the  price  of 
blood,  and  gone  as  he  did,  to  seize,  and  bind,  and  sacrifice  the  Lamb 
of  God.  The  foe  had  to  wait,  after  he  had  whetted  his  teeth  for 
the  prey,  till  one,  placed  in  the  very  presence  of  truth  itself, 
should  become  sufficiently  hardened,  through  its  perverted  influ- 
ence, to  administer  the  betraying  kiss,  and  sell  his  holy  Master. 
So  Julian  had  done  the  Church  far  less  injury,  had  he  not  been 
nursed  in  her  bosom.  It  was  there  his  heart  acquired  that  hard- 
ness, and  his  conscience  that  obduracy,  that  qualified  him  to  be 
the  patron  of  that  gross,  and  God-provoking  idolatry,  which  kin- 
dled its  fires  so  zealously  about  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  God, 
and  sent  many  from  the  stake  and  cross  to  heaven. 

Ah,  and  before  we  leave  this  bloody  spot,  in  search  of  other 
facts,  all  establishing  the  same  truth,  I  would  point  you  up  to  hea- 
ven, and  tell  you,  that  devils  could  be  made,  only  in  that  pure  and 


440  THE   MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED. 

happy  world ! !  It  was  there,  right  where  God  and  the  Lamb  are 
unceasingly  adored,  that  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the 
spirit  that  now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience,  was 
schooled,  and  disciplined,  and  equipped  ; — for  what  1  for  the  great- 
est usefulness,  and  the  highest  honors,  like  that  of  Gabriel,  had 
he  proved  obedient ;  but  becoming  a  rebel,  and  carrying  all  his 
heaven-taught  science  with  him  down  to  hell,  he  was  prepared  to 
display  a  cunning,  and  a  prowess,  in  deeds  of  wrong,  that  have 
justly  drawn  upon  him  the  epithet  of  the  old  serpent. 

You  may  now  pass  down,  from  the  empyreal  apostate,  through 
the  whole  catalogue  of  baptized  worldlings,  and  tell  me  if  one  of 
them  was  restrained  by  his  profession,  from  doing  mischief  to  the 
Church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  know  that  their  initiation 
into  her  mysteries,  and  their  unwarranted  touch  of  her  consecrated 
things,  have  led  them  to  change  their  mode  of  warfare,  and  to 
attack  her  interests  and  her  honors,  in  a  covert  and  disguised 
assault,  made  in  the  night  time,  while  men  slept.  There  have 
been  few  open  and  avowed  infidels,  who  have  held  their  place 
within  the  enclosures  of  the  Church.  But  they  have  done  none 
the  less  mischief,  but  the  more,  because  they  lurked  in  ambush. 
The  foe  who  meets  you  in  open  day,  you  may  vanquish  far  more 
easily,  than  he  who  comes  under  the  covert  of  the  black  and  dark 
night. 

The  thought  I  venture  to  urge  is,  that  the  superior  growth  of 
depravity,  acquired  under  the  touch  of  sealing  ordinances  through 
the  perversions  of  a  deceived  heart,  have  made  men  the  more 
inimical  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  the  more  desperate  in  their 
attacks  upon  her  interests  and  her  honors.  Hence  some  of  the 
worst  of  men  have  come  from  the  house  of  prayer,  where  they  had 
been  familiar  with  all  the  hallowed  objects  of  piety.  No  young 
men  have  sworn  more  profanely,  or  gambled  more  desperately,  or 
abused  the  Scriptures  more  wantonly,  or  sneered  at  piety  more 
contemptuously,  than  the  wayward  youth,  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  bow  at  the  family  altar.  Not  that  such  cases  are  so 
common  as  the  contrary ;  for  a  pious  education  is  the  most  pro- 
mising path  to  heaven ;  but  when  they  do  happen,  they  are  noticed, 
and  afford  us  awful  proof  that  truth  perverted,  is  more  deadly  in 
its  effects  than  error. 

Tell  me  if  God  has  ever  directed,  that  the  Church  should  tame 
her  enemies,  by  placing  them  in  her  bosom  1  Is  it  thus  that  we 
tame  the  viper  and  the  asp  1  If  such  would  be  the  course  of  wis- 
dom, we  have  not  done  half  enough.  The  Church  should  have  no 


THE    MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED.  441 

enclosures,  no  creed,  no  covenant,  no  watch,  no  discipline,  no  bar- 
rier that  should  operate  to  keep  the  vilest  of  men  from  entering 
her  holiest  places.  Let  us  spread  at  once  the  net  of  a  loose  and 
superficial  discipleship  over  the  whole  multitude  of  the  ungodly, 
and  thus,  by  a  single  effort,  put  a  period  to  the  Church's  long  pro- 
tracted conflicts,  and  save  men  the  pain  and  the  danger  of  doing 
mischief.  But  there  is  yet  room  to  doubt  whether  God  has  pre- 
scribed any  such  means  for  taming  depravity,  or  terminating  the 
conflicts  of  his  people ;  and  whether  the  Church  has  not  by  this 
time-serving  policy,  multiplied  her  wars  and  her  dangers. 

Why  will  we  not  look  about  us,  and  see  what  testimony  our  eyes 
will  furnish  us.  Who  are  the  enemies  of  the  Church  in  the  pre- 
sent day  1  who  lead  in  the  attacks  upon  her  1  who  unsettle  her 
ministry  1  who  dilute  her  creed  1  who  abridge  her  rights  1  who 
rob  her  of  her  interests  1  who,  by  setting  at  defiance  her  laws,  and 
drawing  upon  themselves  her  tardy  and  hesitating  anathemn,  dis- 
tract her  peace  1  Ah,  look  once  into  the  churches  that  are  rent 
with  division,  and  party,  and  strife  ;  and  tell  me,  if  in  each  case 
there  is  not  some  son  of  Belial  whom,  like  the  serpent  in  the  fable, 
the  Church  had  warmed  in  her  bosom,  but  now  has  to  feel  the 
effects  of  his  venom  1  Where  in  the  churches  is  there  division, 
and  strife,  and  hatred,  and  there  is  no  professor  warm  in  the  quar- 
rel 1  A  single  man,  can  go  out  infuriated  from  the  sacramental 
cup,  and  spread  a  wider  ruin  than  a  score  of  abler  men,  about 
whom  there  have  never  been  cast  the  sacred  enclosures  of  the 
covenant.  O,  I  wish  I  had  not  half  the  evidence  I  have,  that  I 
announce  .a  solemn  and  sacred  truth  that  ought  to  have  been  pub- 
licly announced  far  sooner.  Whatever,  then,  a  profession  of  god- 
liness may  do  for  unregenerate  men,  it  does  not  curtail  their  power 
or  disposition  for  doing  mischief.  I  remark, 

2.  An  amalgamation  of  unregenerate  men,  with  the  Church,  does 
not  increase  their  means  of  becoming  holy  and  happy.  No  plea  has 
been  so  popular,  with  those  who  have  wished  to  push  unregenerate 
men  into  a  closer  contact  with  sacred  things,  than  that  they  are 
thus  furnished  with  better  means,  and  a  fairer  prospect  of  obtain- 
ing salvation.  It  has  been  the  boast  of  some  modern  preachers, 
that  under  their  ministrations,  ungodly  men  are  induced  to  quit 
the  ranks  of  infidelity,  and  become  Christians.  They  have  skill, 
it  seems,  in  rendering  the  gospel  palatable,  and  men  will  receive 
it  from  them,  who  would  have  perished,  before  they  would  have 
received  it  at  the  lips  of  a  harsh,  and  homely,  and  unfeeling  ortho- 
doxy !  Not  to  stop  now,  to  inquire  whether  these  converts  are 
56 


442  THE   MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED. 

not  rendered  tenfold  more  the  children  of  hell,  than  previously  to 
their  having  been  discipled ;  let  me  ask  whether  the  means  of 
grace  used  with  them,  are  thus  increased  1  and  whether  their  pros- 
pects of  heaven  are  thus  brightened  1 

That  same  gospel,  which  would  induce  the  unsanctified,  without 
being  renewed,  to  avow  themselves  believers,  and  thus  teach  them 
in  the  outset  to  utter  a  lie  ;  would  not  be  very  likely  to  teach  them 
much  truth,  after  their  being  drawn  within  the  covenant.  And 
moreover,  if  an  impression  contrary  to  truth  must  be  made  to 
bring  them  to  the  house  of  God,  or  within  the  enclosures  of  a 
Christian  church,  it  is  very  doubtful,  whether  they  would  after- 
ward listen  seriously  to  the  truth.  The  same  pleasant  song  that 
charmed  them  at  the  first,  must  continue  to  hold  them,  or  they 
would  escape  like  the  bird  from  the  grasp  of  the  charmer.  They 
must  have  a  gospel  as  false  throughout,  as  was  that  first  lesson, 
that  induced  them  to  quit  visibly  the  fellowship  of  infidelity.  And 
if  so,  they  remain  in  all  the  darkness  of  their  former  state,  with  no 
more  chance  of  being  enlightened,  than  under  the  ministration  of 
a  Bramin,  or  a  Mufti.  Or  suppose  your  polished  and  soothing- 
preacher  has  done  his  part,  and  induced  the  infidel  to  abandon  his 
creed,  for  some  general  confession  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  its 
doctrines  having  been  frittered  down  till  he  is  satisfied  ;  and  he 
has  exchanged  the  school  of  infidelity  for  the  Church  of  Christ  j — 
suppose  this  done,  and  the  child  thus  born  delivered  over  to  be 
nursed,  and  reared,  under  a  better  gospel ;  let  me  ask,  if  that  onje 
fatal  error,  which  he  has  adopted,  will  not  operate  like  a  corrupt 
leaven,  to  poison  the  whole  system  of  truth.  You  may  bring  the 
man  to  the  sanctuary,  where  is  taught  the  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints,  and  chain  him  to  his  pew,  and  pour  in  truth  upon  his 
car  for  half  a  century,  and  still  you  will  never  reach  his  conscience, 
till  you  make  him  feel,  and  he  becomes  willing  to  learn,  that  his 
heart  is  alienated  from  God,  and  that  the  profession  he  has  made 
is  a  lie.  You  must  teach  him  that  the  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the 
whole  heart  faint ;  that  he  is  an  alien  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  and  is  not,  and  never  has  been,  in  covenant  with  God ;  and 
thus  at  the  very  first  push  of  truth,  thrust  him  from  his  strong 
hold,  or  he  stands  shielded  against  any  attack  that  can  be  made 
upon  him  by  the  true  gospel.  Thus  in  order  to  make  him  listen 
to  the  truth,  or  in  other  words,  to  furnish  him  better  means  of 
grace,  you  bring  him  up  to  the  communion  table,  and  when  there 
you  can  make  him  feel  nothing,  till  you  show  him,  that  the  incense 
and  the  sacrifice  he  offers  is  abomination  to  the,  Lord. 


THE    MAN    OF    GOD   DEVELOPED.  443 

It  does  seem  to  me  that  when  you  have  made  the  unrenewed 
man  a  professor  of  godliness,  you  have  placed  him  where  he  can- 
not be  taught  the  gospel.  You  have  prepared  him  a  shield  for  his 
conscience  and  his  heart,  that  will  effectually  protect  him,  against 
any  thrust  that  truth  can  make.  It  is  then  doubted,  whether  seal- 
ing ordinances  are  at  all  likely  to  become  means  .of  grace,  to  wick- 
ed men,  who  are  admitted  to  those  ordinances,  while  in  impeni- 
tence and  unbelief. 

I  take  it  for  granted,  what  is  too  evident  to  admit  a  doubt,  that 
a  mere  profession  does  not  alter  the  man's  moral  character  in  the 
least.  He  believes  no  truth  that  he  did  not  believe  before,  is  as 
much  an  infidel  as  ever,  and  does  no  duty  that  he  did  not ;  unless 
you  please  to  say  that  coming  to  the  communion  is  a  duty,  and 
this  we  deny.  To  do  so  is  duty,  if  the  heart  be  right  with  God, 
not  otherwise.  Indeed  nothing  is  done,  that  deserves  the  name  of 
duty  while  God  is  not  feared  and  loved.  And  nothing  will  be  at- 
tempted to  be  done  in  this  case,  merely  because  God  commands 
it,  but  all  because  consistency  of  conduct  requires  it.  There  may 
be  some  attempt  at  prayer,  and  greater  punctuality  in  attending 
upon  a  preached  gospel,  but  it  must  all  be,  from  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  a  show  of  piety.  The  profession  has  not  altered  the 
man,  either  in  heart  or  conduct,  enough  to  give  him  another  cha- 
racter, either  in  the  view  of  God  or  man.  How  then  are  his 
means  of  holiness,  or  his  chance  of  heaven  at  all  altered  for  the 
better  1 

Beside  there  is  produced  by  attending  upon  ordinances,  when 
there  is  no  piety,  a  positive  hardness  of  heart,  and  obtuseness  of 
conscience,  which  tends  to  remove  the  man  farther  than  ever  from 
God.  It  is  trifling  with  the  most  holy  things,  and  the  man  who 
shall  do  this,  must  rise  to  a  pitch  of  profanity  and  of  daring,  that 
cannot  fail  to  beget  an  abiding  insensibility.  It  is  like  the  deed 
of  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah,  who,  for  daring  to  assume  the  priest's 
office,  was  made  a  leper,  and  continued  so  all  his  life.  God  will 
be  sanctified  in  them  that  draw  near  to  him.  Thus  are  we  driven 
to  the  conclusion,  that  when  the  ungodly  come  to  the  consecrated 
elements,  their  means  of  grace  are  not  increased,  while  their  pros- 
pects of  heaven  are  greatly  darkened.  I  close  with  one  general 

REMARK. 

How  above  all  price  is  an  honest  and  distinguishing  gospel. 
In  the 

1.  Place,  such  a  gospel  is  the  only  true  gospel.     My  audience,  I 


444  THE    MAN    OF    GOD    DEVELOPED. 

hope,  are  persuaded,  that  we  have  a  distinguishing  Bible.  God 
intended,  when  he  inspired  his  word,  to  give  us,  not  the  means  of 
guessing  at  the  truth,  but  of  knowing  it.  "  Ye  shall  know  the 
truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  Hence  he  has  made  his 
word  plain,  so  that  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  shall  not  err. 
Now  we  should  depart  from  honesty,  to  either  teach,  or  suffer  our- 
selves to  be  taught,  indistinctly,  from  this  plain  Bible.  There 
must  be  some  base  design,  when  the  truth  of  God,  that  stands  in- 
telligible on  the  record,  is  rendered  obscure  and  confused  in  the 
lips  of  the  publisher.  The  doctrines  clearly  taught  in  the  Bible, 
must  be  made  evident  by  the  preacher ;  and  the  characters,  there 
distinctly  marked,  not  be  by  him  blended  and  confounded :  else 
we  can  easily  be  sure,  that  we  have  not  before  us  the  honest  legate 
of  the  skies. 

2.  It  is  only  an  honest  and  distinguishing  gospel,  that  does  honor 
to  the  Savior.  Its  grand  object  is  to  redeem  men  from  all  iniquity, 
and  purify  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of 
good  works.  The  Church  it  gathers,  and  feeds,  and  comforts,  has 
on  the  image  of  her  Lord,  stands  out  from  the  world,  an  illustrious 
monument  of  his  sanctifying  power,  and  tells  all  the  generations 
that  pass  by,  how  holy,  and  how  glorious,  and  how  mighty,  is  her 
Redeemer.  Christ  has  declared  that  his  people  are  like  him,  he  is 
formed  in  them  the  hope  of  glory.  But  if  you  mix  up  the  Church 
with  the  world,  and  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  can- 
not be  known  from  the  multitudes  with  whom  they  are  amalga- 
mated, and  you  call  this  whole  mass  the  Church,  which  is  expect- 
ed to  wear  the  image  of  her  Lord,  then  you  grossly  libel  his  cha- 
racter. 

If  the  ungodly,  as  they  look  upon  this  Church,  are  to  learn  from 
its  character,  what  is  the  character  of  the  Savior ;  and  from  its 
conduct,  what  is  the  life  and  conversation  he  would  approve  j  and 
from  its  temper,  what  is  the  Spirit  of  Christ ;  then  is  the  Savior 
degraded  and  abused  by  such  a  Church,  and  the  whole  design  of 
his  mission  covered  with  reproach.  He  came  to  save  his  people 
from  their  sins.  Are  these,  then,  the  people  he  has  saved  1  these 
worldlings  1  these  profane  men  1  these  gamblers  1  these  covetous 
men*  these  ambitious  men'?  these  proud,  litigious,  thoughtless, 
prayerless  men  1  Are  all  these  the  saved  of  Jesus  Christ  1  this  the 
multitude  that  he  has  washed  from  their  sins  in  his  blood !  ! 

Thus  an  indistinct  gospel  builds  up  a  worldly  Church,  and  that 
Church  by  its  open,  and  barefaced,  and  abounding  iniquities,  brings 
reproach  and  contempt  upon  its  Redeemer.  But  let  the  Church 


THE   MAN    OF    GOD   DEVELOPED.  445 

be  pure  as  he  would  have  it,  be  composed  of  only  such  as  will  put 
on  his  image  and  glory  in  being  like  him ;  then  the  world  will  take 
knowledge  of  them  that  they  have  been  with  Jesus,  and  he  will  be 
honored  in  the  house  of  his  friends. 

3.  It  is  only  an  honest  and  distinguishing  gospel  that  will  be 
useful. 

It  gives  the  means  of  knowing  their  own  character.  Its  very 
first  object  is  to  distinguish  between  the  clean  and  the  unclean,  be- 
tween him  that  serveth  God,  and  him  that  serveth  him  not.  Then 
the  Christian  discovers  that  he  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  takes  the 
comfort  of  it ;  and  the  unregenerate  learn  that  they  are  in  the  gall 
of  bitterness,  and  under  the  bonds  of  iniquity,  and  feel  the  pain 
of  it,  and  apprehend  the  danger  of  it.  He  will  have  many  a  song, 
and  they  feel  many  a  pang  under  such  a  gospel ;  he  may  have  high 
hopes  of  future  blessedness,  and  they  many  strong  anticipations 
of  the  wrath  to  come. 

A  gospel  that  is  not  distinguishing,  by  building  up  a  worldly 
Church,  withholds  from  sinners  one  of  the  mightiest  means  of 
grace.  There  is  nothing  that  so  much  affects  men,  as  to  see  reli- 
gion embodied,  and  acted  out  by  the  people  of  God.  The  gospel 
then  presents  itself  to  their  consciences  in  a  living  shape,  and  carries 
with  it  an  influence  that  is  irresistible.  There  the  law  is,  and  there 
the  gospel  is,  right  before  their  eyes  all  day  in  their  houses,  and  in 
their  streets  ;  and  they  must  die  or  embrace  it.  But  under  a  loose 
and  indistinct  gospel,  there  is  no  such  example,  and  of  course  no 
such  influence  exerted.  If  there  should  be  some  few  in  the 
Church,  who  honor  the  religion  they  profess,  which  is  not  very 
likely  under  a  gospel  that  does  not  feed  them  with  the  truth,  still 
their  influence  will  not  be  felt.  They  will  be  nicknamed,  and  des- 
pised, and  cast  out,  as  sour,  unsocial  and  austere  beings,  of  whom 
none  may  speak  kindly,  and  with  whom  none  will  associate.  Thus 
the  ungodly  under  such  a  gospel,  lack  one  of  the  most  efficacious 
means  of  grace. 

Hence  under  such  a  gospel  there  is  no  reason  to  hope,  that  sin- 
ners will  repent  and  turn  to  God,  and  live.  Men  will  not  be 
alarmed  till  they  know  their  danger,  nor  will  know  their  danger 
till  they  learn  their  true  character.  Hence  under  a  gospel,  that 
does  not  distinguish,  that  rears  not  a  pious  Christian  Church,  that 
mixes  up  the  Lord's  people  with  the  world,  calls  the  whole  con- 
gregation brethren,  and  deals  out  the  promises  without  discrimina- 
tion ;  sinners  cannot  be  said  to  enjoy  the  means  of  grace,  will  never 


44-6  THE    MAN    OF    GOD   DEVELOPED. 

become  alarmed,  and  will  never  repent,  and  will  die  in  their  sins, 
and  where  Christ  is  they  can  never  come. 

To  the  people  of  God,  who  are  under  a  process  of  sanctifica- 
tion  through  the  truth,  it  is  of  unspeakable  importance  that  they 
enjoy  a  distinguishing  gospel.  Else  they  will  ripen  but  slowly  for 
heaven,  will  not  enjoy  the  comforts  of  religion,  nor  be  extensively 
useful.  To  place  them  under  a  tame  and  temporizing  gospel,  is  like 
the  attempt  to  grow  plants  in  the  shade.  They  may  just  live,  but  they 
can  neither  be  vigorous  nor  healthful.  Place  the  men  of  heavenly 
birth,  where  they  can  have  the  whole  truth,  and  feel  its  influence. 
Then  they  "  spring  up,  as  willows  by  their  water-courses."  Every 
day  advances  them  in  the  Divine  life.  Their  religion  is  healthful 
and  vigorous,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  will  feel  the 
blessed  effects  for  ever.  They  will  be,  when  they  die,  better  pre- 
pared for  heaven,  will  take  a  higher  station,  and  shine  more  illus- 
triously in  the  celestial  firmament. 

O,  then,  suffer  not  a  Christian  for  a  world,  to  spend  his  days  un- 
d6r  a  loose  and  indiscriminating  gospel.  Advise  him  to  sell  all  he 
has  and  buy  a  better  gospel,  or  go  where  the  truth  is  proclaimed, 
that  they  may  daily  feel  its  influence,  "  till  we  all  come  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto 
a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ."  Amen. 


SERMON    XXXIX. 

MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.— No.  I. 

GENESIS   IV.    9. 
Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ? 

THUS  early  did  the  apostacy  of  the  human  family  display  itself 
in  murder,  in  falsehood,  in  supreme  selfishness,  and  in  gross  and 
daring  impudence.  Cain,  you  know,  had  murdered  his  brother, 
and  he  now  lies  in  the  hope  to  conceal  it  from  God,  and  impudent- 
ly repels  the  insinuation  that  it  was  at  all  his  business  to  be  his 
brother's  guardian.  He  would  have  no  care  of  his  brother ;  he 
might  die  or  live,  it  was  no  matter  that  concerned  him.  His  own 
interest  was  care  enough  for  him ;  his  brother  must  be  his  own 
keeper.  This  same  principle  of  depravity,  supreme  selfishness,  has 
ever  predominated  in  the  breast  of  the  human  family,  and  may  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  causes  that  operate  to  make  and  keep 
the  world  miserable.  Yet  the  question  put  to  Cain  implies  that 
God  will  govern  us  by  another  law.  We  are  to  know  what  has  be- 
come of  our  brother.  His  life  and  health  and  happiness  is  to  be 
the  object  of  our  care,  and  that  by  the  authority  of  God  himself. 
As  he  would  not  suffer  Cain,  so  neither  will  he  suffer  us  to  throw 
off  this  obligation.  And  what  then  becomes  of  the  argument  by 
which  men  quiet  their  consciences,  while  they  make  no  exertion 
to  bless  or  save  the  human  family  1.  When  God  shall  make  inqui- 
sition for  blood,  and  shall  inquire  of  us  as  he  did  of  the  first  mur- 
derer, Where  are  all  those  millions  of  heathen  that  lived  in  your 
day  1  what  reply  shall  we  make  1  When  he  inquires,  Where  are 
all  those  profane  men  and  Sabbath-breakers  that  lived  in  your  time  \ 
Where  are  all  those  intemperate  men  that  came  under  your  notice, 
and  formed  a  character  for  perdition  with  your  connivance  1  Shall 
we  be  able  to  wield  successfully  that  argument  of  Cain,  "  Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper  V  Or  is  there  some  other  law  like  this, 
u  Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man  another's."  Wealth  is 
here  added  by  the  translators,  but  it  applies  as  well  to  other  things 
as  to  wealth.  We  are  to  seek  another's  health,  and  happiness,  and 
salvation,  as  well  as  our  own.  "  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  others 
should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them." 


448  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

Perhaps  by  some  such  law  God  will  at  last  deal  with  us,  and  not 
by  that  contracted  self-love  which  Cain  made  his  only  law  of  life 
and  action.  And  if  so,  why  should  men  act  on  a  principle  now, 
that  must  be  abandoned  in  the  day  of  retribution  1  One  would  not 
like  to  enter  upon  some  litigated  case,  having  planned  his  defence 
on  a  principle  totally  different  from  that  on  which  alone  his  cause 
can  stand.  Wisdom  would  dictate  a  far  other  course.  We  are 
all  looking  forward  to  the  judgment  of  the  great  day,  and  it  will 
come  whether  we  look  for  it  or  not,  and  God  has  given  us  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  he  will  proceed.  By  these,  then  let  us  prejudge 
ourselves,  that  in  the  great  day  we  may  stand. 

On  application  to  the  law  and  the  testimony  we  shall  find  that 
God  has  made  us  all  our  brother's  keeper.  And  would  we  know 
who  is  our  brother,  the  same  book  will  bring  within  the  circle  of 
our  brotherhood  the  whole  human  family.  Hence  the  obligation  to 
do  good  to  all  men  as  we  have  opportunity,  will  come  down  a 
mighty  burden  if  you  please,  upon  all  our  shoulders.  Cain  de- 
fended himself  on  a  spurious  principle,  and  the  judgment  of  God 
overthrew  it.  There  is  not,  then,  a  man  in  our  streets  but  is  obli- 
gated to  look  so  far  into  his  neighbor's  concerns,  as  to  know,  if 
possible,  whether  there  is  not  some  good  he  should  do  him.  God 
will  not  consider  it  a  wanton  interference,  an  abridgement  of  our 
neighbor's  liberty,  if  we  so  far  interest  ourselves  as  to  settle  the 
question  that  there  is  no  point  in  which  we  can  bless  him.  Did 
we  see  his  house  on  fire  in  the  night  time,  we  should  haste  to  it, 
and  burst  open  his  door,  and  if  he  slept  too  soundly  to  be  waked, 
should  throw  him  out  of  his  house,  and  none  would  consider  it  a 
gratuitous  intermeddling  in  another  man's  matters..  But  the  law 
of  God  does  not  say  that  we  may  interfere  merely  to  promote  his 
wealth.  Can  we  in  any  point  do  him  good  ?  If  so,  the  obligation 
rests  on  us. 

Now  apply  this  principle  to  the  case  of  that  multitude  who  are 
scorching  up  their  vitals  by  intemperance.  Is  it  abridging  their 
liberties  if  we  interpose  ?  Can  it  be  viewed  as  wanton  officious- 
ness  if  we  snatch  the  cup  from  their  lips  1  Suppose  it  a  quicker 
poison  that  would  take  life  in  an  hour,  might  we  then  dash  the 
cup  away  1  Suppose  the  father  drinking  it  would  poison  and  kill 
his  whole  family ;  might  we  then  be  so  officious  as  to  pity  his 
wife  and  children,  and  rudely  force  the  potion  away  from  him  1 
Suppose  it  a  razor  or  a  halter,  instead  of  the  cup,  and  you  must 
become  officious  or  his  wife  is  a  widow  in  an  hour,  and  his 
children  orphans  ;  may  you  act  in  that  case  1  Will  one  oppose 


449 

the  man  who  is  opening  his  jugulars,  and  must  be  a  corpse  in 
an  hour,  and  at  the  same  time  furnish  the  instrument  to  another 
with  which  he  opens  a  vein  that  will  dispatch  him  in  a  week  1  By 
what  kind  of  consistency  do  men  sustain  this  mode  of  reasoning  1 
Does  God  see  any  difference  in  these  cases  1  Or  has  mere  human 
sophistry  separated  what  God  hath  joined  together  1 

Let  us  look  a  little  while  at  the  right  we  have,  and  the  obligation 
we  are  under,  to  interfere  in  the  case  before  us,  and  dam,  divert,  or 
dry  up  that  flood  of  intemperance  that  is  pouring  desolation  upon 
society.  On  this  subject  we  claim  in  bur  favor  every  law  of  na- 
ture, of  God,  and  of  man.  We  claim  the  obligation  of  every  law 
of  kindness,  humanity,  self-preservation,  and  necessity.  And  we 
know  of  no  law  that  bears  in  any  shape  upon  our  case,  that  does 
not  declare  most  unequivocally  our  duty  in  this  matter.  Let  us 
look, 

I.  At  the  law  of  God.  Whether  the  divine  law  will  be  felt  on 
this  subject  or  not,  its  authority  should  be  read.  Many  will  plead 
that  it  principally  enjoins  abstaining  from  injuring  our  fellow  men. 
We  assert  that  it  enjoins  more,  and  renders  duty  positive  exertion 
to  do  them  good.  "  Thou  shalt  in  any  wise  rebuke  thy  neighbor, 
and  not  suffer  sin  upon  him."  Here  is  authorized  and  even  en- 
joined the  very  attack  we  would  make  upon  this  vice.  And  we 
have  here  the  rule  of  our  perseverance  ;  we  are  not  to  cease  while 
sin  is  upon  him.  "  Them  that  sin  rebuke  before  all,  that  others 
may  fear."  Here  We  are  authorized,  if  the  case  requires,  to  make 
our  rebuke  loud  and  public.  Good  magistrates  are  represented 
as  being  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  as  enjoined  of  God  to  use  coercion 
to  keep  men  back  from  sin.  The  discipline  of  Christ's  church  is 
founded  in  the  principle  that  it  is  right  to  hold  men  back  from 
doing  wrong  by  all  the  moral  force  that  can  be  applied.  The  laws 
of  Israel  required  even  that  men.be  held  back  from  sin  by  the  ap- 
prehended punishment  of  death.  The  parent  must  inform  against 
his  disobedient  child,  even  when  the  issue  must  be  that  his  child 
be  stoned  to  death.  The  sacredness  of  the  Sabbath  was  by  divine 
direction  guarded  by  the  sanction  of  death.  Thus  we  sufficiently 
see  that  the  law  of  God  enjoins  more  upon  men  than  merely  ab- 
staining from  injuring  their  fellow-men,  enjoins  also  the  duty  of 
keeping  them  back  from  sin.  Not  merely  may  I  not  kill,  but  I 
must  hinder  one  from  killing  himself.  Not  merely  may  I  not 
steal,  but  I  must  hold  back  my  neighbor  from  theft.  Not  merely 
may  I  not,  by  any  possible  construction,  put  the  cup  to  my  neigh- 
57 


4-50  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

bor's  mouth,  but  must,  if  possible,  prevent  him  from  putting  the 
cup  to  his  own  mouth.  The  law  of  God  is  not  that  tame  negative, 
spiritless  code  that  some  would  render  it,  but  is  exceeding  broad, 
and  binds  to  all  those  actions  that  comport  with  its  spirit.  There 
is  no  fear,  then,  that  by  any  moral  power  we  shall  put  forth  in 
reclaiming  the  world  from  its  beastly  indulgences,  we  shall  not  be 
sustained  by  the  law  of  God.  We  shall  be  condemned  if  we  do 
not  put  forth  such  power  by  that  very  law.  I  remark, 

II.  That  the  religion  of*Jesus  Christ  embodies,  as  one  of  its  first 
principles,  the  duty  of  restraining  men  from  sin.  It  is  difficult  to 
view  the  operations  of  this  religion  as  distinct  from  the  operations 
of  the  law  of  God.  Its  uniform  aim  is,  as  far  as  it  relates  to  men, 
to  render  them  holy  and  happy.  To  do  this  it  would  enlighten 
the  world  ;  warn  them  of  the  coming  judgment ;  exert  all  possible 
restraining  moral  influence  over  the  wicked  passions,  and  place 
before  men  every  fascinating  motive  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come.  The  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  characterizes  this  religion.  He 
came  from  heaven  purposely  that  he  might  throw  himself  between 
the  sinner  and  the  misery  he  earns,  and  thus  block  up  the  way  of 
death  with  his  own  body  and  blood.  And  he  stands  and  pleads 
with  wretched  men.  "  O  that  thou  hadst  hearkened  to  my  com- 
mandments, then  had  thy  peace  been  as  a  river,  and  thy  right- 
eousness like  the  waves  of  the  sea."  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  "  Turn  ye, 
turn  ye,  why  will  ye  die." 

The  religion  of  the  gospel  is  a  benevolent  religion.  Its  posses- 
sor is  not  content  to  be  happy  alone,  but  would  extend  his  own 
enjoyment  to  the  whole  race  of  the  apostacy  ;  would  rouse  a  dor- 
mant world  from  the  sleep  of  death,  and  break  them  off  from  the 
habits  that  are  destroying  them.  He  has  read  in  the  sacred  book 
that  no  drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  hence  he  sees 
heaven  shut  for  ever  against  the  whole  multitude,  and  nothing  be- 
fore them  but  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Here 
piety  becomes  tenderly  and  laboriously  compassionate.  It  cares 
for  the  sufferings  of  the  body,  but  holds  it  to  be  an  infinitely  more 
important  object  to  save  the  soul  from  death. 

And  there  is  one  thought  on  this  subject  that  has  amazing  weight. 
Intemperance  excludes  men,  if  not  wholly  from  the  house  of  God, 
yet  very  lamentably  from  the  means  of  grace.  Where  is  the  in- 
temperate man  that  has  not  vacated  his  seat  in  the  church  meet- 
ing, in  the  conference  room,  and  in  the  place  of  prayer  1  Who 


451 

of  them  attend  regularly  the  means  of  grace,  as  those  who  hope 
to  be  sanctified  through  the  truth  1  And  they  will  be  found  to 
have  commenced  a  very  loose  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  family 
and  the  closet,  if  indeed  these  duties  are  not  wholly  abandoned  1 
The  Bible  is  read  but  little,  and  very  few  of  its  precious  truths  are 
treasured  up,  and  reflected  on  and  prayed  over.  The  time  that 
all  these  require  is  lost  in  unprofitable  talk  in  the  place  of  idle 
concourse.  Thus  all  hope  of  heaven  is  cut  off.  The  Sabbath  be- 
comes a  perverted  institution,  and  furnishes,  instead  of  leisure  to 
seek  and  serve  the  Lord,  opportunity  to  drink  and  perish.  Could 
you  know  the  true  reason  in  every  case  why  men  desert  the  sanc- 
tuary, you  would  find  in  many  cases,  that  the  insidious  practice 
of  mingling  strong  drink,  and  the  temptation  offered  of  thus  de- 
voting the  sacred  day  of  the  Lord  unobserved  by  men,  are  gene- 
rating this  habit.  That  day  when  the  last  'and  best  excuse  that 
tipplers  have  for  the  practice,  will  not  apply  that  it  renders  them 
strong  to  labor,  is  spent  in  beastly  indulgences.  Thus  God  is 
twice  insulted,  nay,  three  times.  The  body  that  should  be  the 
temple  of  the  living  God  is  polluted  ;  and  he  that  pollutes  the 
temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy.  The  fruits  of  the  earth, 
grown  by  the  divine  agency,  are  perverted  from  their  benevolent 
designation.  And  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  made  for  man,  to  in- 
struct him  and  fit  him  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  is  abused  to  a  pur- 
pose more  vile  than  any  day  of  the  seven.  How  God  will  feel 
while  men  thus  employ  the  very  hours  he  consecrated,  in  selling 
their  souls  into  bondage  to  the  devil,  it  can  be  easily  conceived. 

Now  the  heart  of  piety  bleeds  over  the  miseries  that  are  coming 
upon  this  infatuated  multitude,  and  all  the  laws  of  piety  urge  the 
believer  to  step  in  and  stay  the  plague.  I  remark, 

III  That  the  laws  of  humanity  give  us  the  right,  and  impress 
the  obligation  to  be  active  in  putting  a  period  to  the  prevalence 
of  this  destructive  vice.  The  intemperate  man,  beast  as  he  has 
made  himself,  is  still  a  brother.  He  descended  with  us  from  the 
same  common  parent,  nor  can  we  by  any  process  of  reasoning 
throw  off  the  relationship  he  sustains  to  us.  Could  he  be  meta- 
morphosed into  a  brute,  and  all  the  relationships  that  tie  him  to 
men  be  dissolved,  when  he  becomes  intemperate,  the  case  would 
alter.  Then  humanity  would  make  upon  us  its  smaller  claim  as 
when  a  beast  suffers,  or  as  when  a  serpent  dies.  Till  then  the 
claim  of  kindred  calls  for  pity. 

How  ruined  is  the  man  who  has  accustomed  himself  to  the  arti- 


452 

ficial  stimulus  till  the  habit  is  fixed  !  The  money  that  should  buy 
him  food  and  raiment,  buys  him  disease  and  pain,  and  desponden- 
cy. That  labor  that  should  earn  his  family  reputation  and  plea- 
sure, and  health,  and  science,  goes  to  pull  down  their  habitation, 
and  cover  them  with  rags,  and  feed  them  coarsely  and  scantily, 
and  plunge  them  from  respectable  life  into  poverty  and  wretched- 
ness. The  man  himself  is  ruined  ;  his  health,  his  ambition,  his 
intellect,  and  more  and  worse  than  all  he  can  have  no  part  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  And  down  toward  the  same  ruin  he  drags,  with 
all  the  power  he  has,  his  hapless  family.  Suppose  him  to  have  a 
wife  how  altered  is  her  prospect.  She  married  a  man  ;  his  face 
was  human,  his  breath  was  sweet,  his  heart  \vas  affectionate,  his 
countenance  spoke  the  kindest  emotions.  He  promised  her  his 
heart  for  life,  and  she  gave  him  hers.  But  she  now  embraces  a 
savage,  and  must  wither  under  his  insults  if  not  his  blows,  and 
must  sue  a  bill  from  him,  or  wear  out  life  in  the  den  of  a  tiger. 
And  must  see  her  children,  the  pledges  of  an  honest  affection, 
under  the  training  of  a  brute  :  must  know  that  little  short  of  a 
miracle  can  rear  them  to  comfort,  or  knowledge,  or  character. 
Her  high  hopes  for  them  are  sunk,  and  she  becomes  thankful  if 
she  may  but  keep  them  with  her  and  furnish  a  rag  to  cover  them, 
and  a  piece  of  bread  to  feed  them.  She  must  see  her  comforts  all 
torn  from  her,  the  very  bed  she  brought  to  him,  and  the  conve- 
niences her  father  gave  her.  She  had  begun  to  move  in  circles  of 
high  character,  and  had  taken  an  elevation  from  which  she  must 
now  come  down.  She  was  the  mistress  of  her  house,  but  is  now 
a  menial.  And  all  this,  were  it  all,  would  be  comparatively  nothing. 
She  must  see  her  companion  come  down  from  independence  to 
beggary,  from  reputation  to  neglect,  from  health  and  promise  to 
disease  and  gloominess,  and  death  and  hell.  Once,  perhaps,  she 
hoped  to  live  with  him  in  heaven,  but  as  no  drunkard  shall  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God,  she  abandons  this  hope,  and  tries  now  to 
save  her  children.  Here  again  her  burden  is  a  world.  How  can 
she  hope  to  counteract  the  influence  of  a  father's  example,  and  un- 
teach  a  father's  precepts,  and  neutralize  a  father's  influence.  She 
had  always  told  her  children  to  obey  their  father,  but  if  they  obey 
him  now  they  must  die  with  him  and  be  damned  with  him. 

Thus  she  surveys  her  household  with  despair  and  sees  not  but 
that  every  star  of  her  night  must  be  covered  with  a  deep  and  dark 
cloud.  She  was  the  mother  of  a  promising  family,  and  dwelt  in  a 
comfortable  habitation.  But  her  miserable  associate  involved  his 
interest,  and  mortgaged  his  dwelling,  and  sold  his  lands,  and  gave 


453 

up  his  business,  and  she  must  now  try  to  keep  herself  warm  in 
that  darksome  hovel.  I  see  her,  on  some  cold  December's  even- 
ing, returning  from  the  wood  with  her  fagots,  that  she  may  keep 
the  life-blood  flowing  warm  in  the  veins  of  her  infant.  And  I  see 
her  little  bare-foot  lads  trying  to  repair  their  father's  wrong,  bear- 
ing on  behind  her  some  brushes  for  the  fire.  Poor  lads,  they  hope 
their  father  will  come  directly  and  bring  them  home  some  bread. 
Ah,  he  comes  yonder,  but  has  spent  the  shilling  to  glut  his  appe- 
tite, and  another  is  leading  him  home.  Go  now  and  meet  that 
abused  wife  at  her  door,  and  enter  with  her  and  take  the  inventory 
of  her  table,  and  if  your  heart  does  not  ache,  it  is  made  of  marble. 
There  is  nothing  there  to  eat  :  if  there  is,  the  mother  earned  it 
last  night  when  she  should  have  been  allowed  to  sleep. 

Go  now  and  visit  her  father's  house,  and  see  how  many  comforts 
lay  around  her  cradle  ;  how  overflowing  is  the  table  where  she 
was  reared  ;  how  full  of  all  life's  dainties  that  house  where  she,  in 
an  evil  hour,  committed  her  person  to  that  being  who  now  holds 
her  as  with  the  paw  of  a  panther ;  and  then  if  there  is  anything 
you  will  not  do  that  can  be  done  to  stay  other  wives  from  such  a 
destiny,  and  other  children  from  such  a  famine,  then  feel  that  you 
lack  the  common  sympathies  of  humanity.  What  can  possibly 
give  us  a  right  to  interfere,  and  save  a  fellow  creature,  if  we  have 
none  in  this  case  1  Where  can  the  laws  of  humanity  operate  ^ 
Might  I  tear  that  imploring  female  from  the  jaws  of  a  wolf,  or  the 
mouth  of  a  crocodile,  or  the  rush  of  a  cataract  1  And  by  what 
law  ?  The  law  of  humanity  1  And  is  this  law  so  binding  that  I 
must  even  risk  my  life  1  Well,  she  may  die  a  slower  death,  by 
the  abuses  of  an  intemperate  husband,  but  not  a  surer  one  ;  and 
her  children  may  not  as  certainly  perish  as  if  already  in  the  em- 
brace of  a  bear,  but  the  danger,  if  they  are  young  when  the  father 
becomes  a  brute,  is  not  much  less  imminent. 

When,  then,  may  the  laws  of  compassion  operate — when  are 
they  binding  as  the  very  law  itself  of  God,  if  not  in  this  case  1  To 
publish  the  tippler,  or  dash  in  pieces  his  bottle,  or  refuse  him  a 
shelter  in  your  house,  or  employ  in  your  service,  are  deeds  direct 
of  compassion,  if  by  such  means  we  may  have  the  remotest  hope, 
of  forcing  him  to  the  necessity  of  abandoning  his  cups.  If  we 
may  not  do  this  without  intrusion  upon  his  rights,  then  we  may 
not  cut  the  halter  he  is  hanging  on  5  may  not  dull  the  blade  he  has 
whetted  to  butcher  himself ;  may  not  extinguish  the  brand  with 
which  he  intends  to  set  his  house  or  a  world  on  fire ;  may  not 
seize  the  maniac  and  put  a  chain  on  him ;  may  not  hunt  down  the 


454  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

tiger  who  is  lurking  in  our  village  for  some  hapless  lad  whom  he 
may  devour.  To  deprive  him  of  citizenship,  and  put  a  guardian 
over  him,  and  a  prison  wall  around  him,  are  the  kindest  deeds,  if 
his  beastly  appetite  has  deprived  him  of  the  power  of  self-govern- 
ment. We  should  pray  that  the  very  same  deeds  may  be  done  to 
us  when  we  shall  have  unmanned  ourselves,  and  rendered  coercive 
measures  of  restraint  indispensable.  To  all  these  measures  the 
laws  of  humanity  propel  us. 

Why  have  a  prison  for  the  thief,  and  none  for  the  inebriate  I 
The  thief  is  the  less  dangerous  man.  He  will  do  his  deeds  in  the 
dark,  and  will  not  contaminate  our  children  by  his  example.  Why 
incarcerate  the  robber  I  He  but  causes  property  to  change  own- 
ers, while  the  drunkard  breaks  in  upon  the  more  sacred  compact 
of  marriage,  sunders  the  parental  and  filial  relationships,  and  robs 
the  domestic  circle  of  its  comforts.  The  highwayman  robs  the 
stranger,  the  drunkard  his  own  family.  The  former  takes  the 
booty  and  is  gone ;  the  drunkard  stays  to  rob  again  and  again  of 
every  shilling  that  is  earned  by  his  family,  or  given  them  in  cha- 
rity, till  he  has  stripped  the  bed  from  under  them,  and  the  clothes 
from  off  them,  and  the  bread  from  their  mouths,  and  stays  not  till, 
if  possible,  he  has  rifled  them  of  home,  and  character,  and  hope, 
and  salvation.  Where  then  is  the  robber  with  whom  humanity 
requires  us  to  wage  war  rather  than  with  the  man  who  is  thus 
spoiling  his  own  house  1  I  know  not  where  that  compassion  has 
originated  that  will  tolerate  a  man  in  plundering  his  own  house, 
but  will  hang  him  if  he  forcibly  take  a  dollar  from  the  stranger  on 
the  highway ;  that  will  suffer  him  to  totally  destroy  the  reputation 
of  his  family,  but  will  imprison  him  and  fine  him  till  he  is  a  beg- 
gar, if  he  slander  the  reputation  of  your  daughter ;  that  will  per- 
mit him  to  wield  day  after  day  the  weapon  of  death  over  his  own 
poor  wife  and  hapless  children,  but  will  fasten  him  up  with  iron 
bars  and  bolts  if  he  once  thrust  the  knife  at  your  bosom. 

I  believe  our  apathy  on  this  subject  a  sin  that  the  whole  sober 
community  will  have  to  answer  for  in  the  day  of  retribution.  God 
has  constituted  us  our  brother's  keeper,  and  will  ask  us  directly, 
Where  is  Abel,  thy  brother  1  in  a  tone  of  remonstrance  that  will 
shake  a  thousand  worlds.  I  will  hint  at  one  other  law  that  binds 
us  to  assume  this  guardianship  of  our  fellow-men. 

IV.  I  refer  to  the  law  of  self-preservation.  I  name  this  last,  not 
because  the  most  binding,  but  as  that  law  which  all  men  are  least 
reluctant  to  obey.  While  we  suffer  the  sin  of  inebriation  to  pre- 


MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.  455 

vail,  we  are  filling  the  land  with  paupers.  Who  are  they  that  be- 
come a  public  charge  1  Why,  perhaps  nine  times  in  ten,  the 
intemperate,  or  their  families,  or  their  descendants,  to  whom  this 
vice  has  bequeathed  penury.  And  who  must  be  taxed  to  support 
them  1  Why  the  sober,  civil  community.  From  their  table  must 
go  the  bread  to  feed  them,  and  from  their  forests  the  fuel  to  warm 
them,  and  from  their  earnings  the  raiment  to  cover  them,  and  from 
their  hearts  the  pity  that  relieves  them  in  sickness,  sorrow,  and 
death.  And  the  burden  is  increasing  daily.  Our  children,  if  we 
train  them  soberly,  may  have  to  labor  one  day  in  seven  to  save 
from  starvation  the  descendants  of  that  mass  of  drunkards  who 
now  reel  through  our  streets,  and  disturb  the  quiet  of  our  even- 
ings with  their  oaths  and  imprecations. 

Ah,  and  more  yet,  our  supineness  is  multiplying  crimes  and 
criminals.  Whence  the  murders  that  so  increase  in  our  land,  till 
they  have  tenfolded  since  our  recollection  1  Whence  the  grow- 
ing insecurity  to  travelers,  and  the  frequency  of  mail  robberies  1 
Whence  that  amount  of  theft  around  us,  till  every  door  must  be 
barred,  and  property  watched  with  a  sleepless  eye  1  Whence  the 
petty  frauds  in  commerce  1  Whence  the  multiplied  litigations, 
till  some  towns  are  about  bankrupt  through  their  influence  1 
If  ninety-nine-hundredths  of  all  this  be  imputed  to  the  unnatural 
and  monstrous  use  of  ardent  spirits,  it  would  not  come  far  short 
of  the  truth. 

Hence  the  tax  upon  the  civil  community  to  prosecute  and  im- 
prison that  army  of  convicts  which  we  do  not  assign  to  the  halter. 
May  we  not  then  try  to  save  our  property  !  Must  we  levy  a  per- 
petual assessment  upon  our  children's  children,  down  to  the  end 
of  time,  for  the  support  of  every  child  whose  miserable  father  shall 
please,  by  his  vices,  to  place  upon  our  charity.  We  have  pitied 
the  English  nation  while  their  poor  tax  has  covered  at  length  the 
whole  produce  of  their  soil ;  but  intemperance  is  doing  the  same 
deed  for  us.  And  if  we  are  not  wise  enough,  I  hope  our  child- 
ren will  be,  to  exclude  this  canker-worm  from  our  entire  territory. 

In  the  mean  time,  intemperance  is  opening  hard  by  our  house  a 
deep  and  dark  gulf  for  our  offspring.  We  intend  to  educate  them 
respectably,  and  to  hold  them  distant  from  the  drunken  and  mis- 
erable community  around  us.  But  how  know  we  that  some  inci- 
dent may  not  throw  down  our  children  into  this  community  1 
How  know  we  that  some  son  of  ours,  while  in  the  field  with  a 
tippler,  may  not  learn  to  taste  the  cup,  and  at  length  scorch  up 
his  vitals  with  the  liquid  fire  1  How  know  we  that  some  daughter 


456  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

of  ours,  now  sweet  and  lovely,  may  not  at  length  come  under  the 
paw  of  some  tiger-like  inebriate ;  be  lashed  like  a  slave,  and 
starved  like  a  criminal,  and  thrown  naked  and  exposed  to  the  cold 
of  winter  by  her  inhuman  husband  1  How  know  we  that  some 
large  branch  of  our  family  may  not  become  sunken  down  to  pro- 
verbial meanness  and  degradation  by  this  iniquity  1  and  our  very 
name  be  used,  as  we  know  other  names  to  be,  as  expressions  of 
all  that  is  degraded  and  vicious,  and  improvident,  and  mean  in 
human  nature.  In  view  of  such  possibilities,  shall  we  still  adhere 
to  the  plea  of  that  first  murderer,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  V 
What  concern  of  mine  is  it  I 

And  who  will  say  I  have  exaggerated.  Have  you  not  known 
some  family  that  "was  promising  to  thus  sink  and  rise  no  more  1 
This  subject  presents  the  retailer  of  ardent  spirits  in  a  painful  and 
distressingly  interesting  attitude.  I  address  him  in  the  next  dis- 
course. 


SERMON    XL.* 
MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.— No.  H. 

EZEKIEL    III.    20. 

His  blood  will  I  require  at  thy  hand. 

Is  it  lawful  in  the.  sight  of  conscience  and  of  God,  to  vend  ardent 
spirits  ? 

EVERY  man  should  be  able  to  justify  himself  in  the  business  he 
pursues,  and  when  he  cannot,  by  good  and  substantial  arguments, 
should  abandon  it.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  persevere  in  any  course 
that  conscience  disapproves.  There  can  be  in  such  a  case,  neither 
peace  with  ourselves  nor  fellowship  with  God.  Darkness,  deep 
and  ominous,  must  shroud  our  path  till  it  is  illuminated  by  the  law 
of  the  Lord. 

Can  the  vender  of  ardent  spirits  justify  his  employment  1  If  he 
surveys  the  ground  on  which  he  stands,  will  he  not  become  con- 
vinced that  very  soon  it  must  sink  under  him  1 

Dear  fellow-men,  the  Christian  public  has  treated  your  case  and 
character  with  great  forbearance,  because  perhaps  we  had  all  been 
measurably  in  the  same  condemnation.  You  vended  the  poison, 
and  too  many  of  us  suffered  our  money  to  buy  it,  and  our  families 
to  use  it.  We  approved  of  your  offering  it  for  sale,  and  you  ap- 
proved of  our  drinking  it.  Thus  we  fostered  the  sin  between  us, 
as  in  that  noted  case  in  Scripture  applying  to  a  somewhat  different 
subject,  "  That  they  may  do  evil  with  both  hands  earnestly,  the 
prince  asketh  and  the  judge  asketh  for  a  reward ;  and  the  great 
man,  he  uttereth  his  mischievous  desire  ;  so  they  wrap  it  up."  The 
importer  and  the  distiller,  and  the  retailer,  asked  a  reward,  and  the 
mistaken  community  of  purchasers  uttered  their  mischievous  de- 
sire, and  so  we  wrapped  it  up. 

When  at  length  we  began  to  wake  to  the  subject,  we  could  not 
immediately  require  you,  at  perhaps  a  great  pecuniary  loss,  to  quit 
the  trade,  till  we  had  begun  to  practice  some  self-denial,  and  had 
abandoned  the  use.  But  if  we  are  all  under  the  same  obligation  to 
elevate  public  sentiment,  the  dealer  must  not  continue  in  the  trade 
till  there  is  no  one  to  buy,  and  then  quit  from  necessity,  else  nei- 

*  This  sermon  was  written  at  a  time  when  many  conscientious  people  were  engaged  in  the  traf- 
fic of  ardent  spirits,  and  at  about  the  commencement  of  the  temperance  reformation. 

58 


458 

ther  God,  nor  man,  nor  his  own  conscience,  will  allow  him  any 
credit.  The  reformation  must  feel  somewhere,  and  at  some  time, 
your  influence,  or  we  shall  fear  that  the  enterprise  was  effected 
against  your  wishes.  If  you  will  sell  the  last  gill  you  can,  and 
make  the  last  man  drunk  that  will  give  you  opportunity,  and  put 
in  your  purse  the  last  penny  that  you  can  make  the  trade  earn  you, 
we  shall  doubt  whether,  if  God  had  left  it  to  you,  the  world  would 
ever  have  been  reformed.  Part  of  the  'community,  and  we  hope, 
by  this  time,  the  larger  part,  are  mourning  that  you  have  not  aban- 
doned the  trade  long  since  ;  the  residue  may  possibly  hope  you 
never  will.  In  which  of  these  divisions  is  there  the  most  prayer  1 
I  think  there  can  be  little  doubt.  And  you  are  choosing  to  which 
of  these  very  opposite  communities  you  will  belong.  Every  prayer 
offered  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  Church  is  against  you,  and  so  is 
every  desire  that  the  world  may  be  peaceful,  and  industrious,  and 
happy,  and  holy.  And  it  would  seem  as  if  one  would  hate  to 
pocket  his  earnings  in  the  face  of  so  much  prayer. 

You  are  aware  that  very  few  good  men  are  now  your  customers 
in  this  article,  and  that  the  number  is  still  diminishing.  But  this, 
it  would  seem,  must  give  you  rather  a  direful  view  of  your  calling. 
The  godly  may  not  come  around  you.  It  has  been  whispered  to 
them  from  heaven,  that  they  may  not  come  into  your  secrets,  nor 
join  their  honor  to  your  tippling  and  drunken  assemblies.  You 
are  employed,  it  seems,  on  the  dark  side  of  that  line,  that  separates 
the  children  of  light  from  the  children  of  darkness.  Your  stand  is 
at  the  tap,  where  you  draw  off,  and  deal  out  to  the  most  ruined 
part  of  your  race,  poverty,  and  pain,  and  decrepitude,  and  blind- 
ness, and  infamy,  and  despair,  and  shame,  and  death. 

And  all  this  is  not  all,  for  in  addition  to  the  present  plagues 
which  your  trade  inflicts  upon  men,  it  promises,  assuredly,  to  undo 
them  for  ever.  It  seals  them  over  to  the  adversary,  and  confirms 
them  the  enemies  of  all  righteousness,  through  all  the  future  pe- 
riods of  their  being.  And  what  a  horrid  occupation  must  that  be 
that  so  mars  and  spoils  the  works  of  God.  What  if  the  light  of 
the  last  day  should  break  in  upon  you  with  the  cup  of  liquid  fire 
in  your  hand,  reaching  it  out  to  one  who  is  at  that  instant  hurried 
away  to  the  judgment,  to  answer  for  the  sin  of  making  himself  a 
beast  at  your  bar,  must  you  not  follow  on  or  go  before  him,  and 
answer  for  the  sin  of  vending  the  fire.  Are  you  not  the  very  man 
whom  the  Scriptures  reprobate  for  putting  the  cup  to  your  neigh- 
bor's mouth.  If  you  will  attend  awhile,  we  will  review  the  argu- 
ments by  which  you  are  sustained  in  the  practice. 


MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.  459 

I.  A  vender  of  ardent  spirits,  on  being  asked  why  he  continued 
in  the  traffic,  responded,  I  am  sustained  by  the  public  authorities. 
They  have  licensed  the  trade,  and  I  pay  over  to  them  a  certain  part  of 
the  profits.  I  can  show  you  their  hand  and  seal. 

But  have  they  pledged  themselves  to  answer  for  you  when  God 
shall  come  and  make  inquisition  for  blood  1  and  when  the  vaga- 
bond husband  with  his  haggard  wife  and  beggared  offspring,  shall 
cry  to  heaven  for  vengeance  on  the  man  that  pilfered  them  of 
bread,  and  clothed  them  with  rags,  and  covered  them  with  infamy  1 

I  know  they  may  have  then  gone  out  of  office,  and  others  may 
occupy  their  seats.  Corporations,  I  know  have  their  life 
time,  and  their  office  is  temporary,  and  their  account  will  be  sum- 
med up  in  eternity.  But  do  they  incur  any  moral  responsibility 
for  the  correctness  of  this  enterprise  1  Will  they  stand  between 
you  and  harm,  in  the  great  day  of  account  1  I  know  they  have 
underwritten  for  your  honesty  and  integrity,  and  for  your  good 
moral  character,  and  have  made  oath  to  all  these  points,  but  as  to 
the  lawfulness  of  the  enterprise  in  the  sight  of  God,  have  they  under- 
written here  1  Or  have  they  left  you  to  settle  this  matter  with 
God. 

And  besides  it  is  said  corporate  bodies  have  no  souls.  Of  course 
they  have  no  conscience,  and  will  not  come  into  the  judgment,  and 
will  not  be  present  to  respond  for  you  when  you  shall  be  charged 
with  pouring  a  stream  of  death  through  the  streets  and  lanes 
of  our  beloved  country.  They  will  have  sunk  down  into  common 
men,  and  will  be  judged  not  as  public  men,  but  as  private  citizens. 

But  to  be  serious,  O  what  a  day  the  last  day  will  be,  when  every 
one  must  answer  for  the  sins  done  in  the  body.  But  if  the  men 
who  signed  your  papers  shall  be  condemned  with  you,  as  guilty 
accomplices  in  your  work  of  death,  what  then  1  Can  you  apply 
any  remedy  to  the  fatal  and  final  mistake  in  that  evil  hour  1  I 
would  certainly  handle  your  conscience  kindly,  but  I  would  do  it 
honestly,  because  I  shall  be  at  the  court  on  that  day,  and  must  be 
condemned  with  you,  if  I  handle  deceitfully  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
or  cry  peace  and  safety  when  sudden  destruction  comes  upon  you. 
I  would  rather  become  security  for  every  demand  and  every  claim 
that  may  come  against  you  in  these  minor  courts,  than  answer  for 
the  charge  of  making  one  drunkard,  or  one  homeless  and  hopeless 
and  vagabond  child,  or  one  broken-hearted  mother.  I  had  rather 
be  your  city  scavenger  than  your  mayor  and  your  alderman  on 
terms  like  these.  If  the  license  you  have,  will  be  current  only  in 
a  human  court,  und  heaven's  King  will  despise  it,  I  would  go  and 


460 

throw  it  down  on  the  table  of  the  corporation,  and  would  go  out, 
and  before  I  commenced  the  sale,  would  demand  a  new  revelation 
from  heaven,  that  should  contain  at  least  a  clause  like  this — Thus 
saith  the  Lord,  They  who  license  others  to  commit  sin  are  answerable. 
for  the  sin,  and  they  alone,  and  let  all  the  people  say  JJmm. 

II.  Another,  on  being  asked  why  he  continued  the  trade,  made 
answer,   That  it  was  profitable,  and  that  he  chose  to  reap  the  profits. 
Or  as  one  might  honestly   interpret  his  language,  he  cared  not 
whether  it  was  right  or  wrong.     He  would  have  been  willing  if  he 
might  have  been  paid  for  his  labor,  to  have  manned  the  guillotine, 
or  to  have  kindled  the  fires  of  the  auto-de-fe.     If  he  could  make 
a  good  trade  of  it,  would  buy  in  the  fagots,  that  were  destined  to 
be  used  in  burning  a  world.     But  it  is  believed  there  are  very  few 
such  men  so  lost  from  reason,  hope   and  heaven.     And  with  this 
few  we  will  not  spend  our  time  at  present. 

III.  Another,  on  being  asked,  replied,   The  trade  supports  my  fam- 
ily, and  propped  his  argument  by  Scripture  :    "  If  any  provide  not 
for  his  own,  and   especially  for   those  of  his  own  house,  he  hath 
denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."     He  faltered  as  he 
uttered  the  text,  seeming  to  doubt  whether  God  inspired  it  to  fos- 
ter the  crime  of  drunkenness.     A  very   simple  comment  would 
say,  It  surely  must  be  of  some   consequence,   how  we    provide. 
May  a  man  steal  his  bread,  and  purloin  the  garment  that  warms  his 
children'?     One  may  not  provide  for  his  family  by   gambling,  nor 
by  extortion,   nor  by  robbery,  nor  by  usury.     By  none  of  these 
means,  is  it  believed  that  one  could  lawfully  make  the  provision 
enjoined  in  the  text.     Thus  the  argument  goes  for  nothing,  if  we 
are  required  to  use  Christian  discretion  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
this  provision  shall  be  made.     We  may  not  do  evil  that  good  may 
come,  unless  we  would  have  our  damnation  just.    The  end  will  not 
sanctify  the  means.     That  end  which  is  not   achieved  by   mea- 
sures of  righteousness,  is  not  pursued  with  regard  to  the  authority 
of  God. 

IV.  Another  trader  replied,  This  is  the  business  I  was  bred  to.    So 
King  Alexander  and  the  man  of  Elba,  and  Cesar  and  Sennacherib, 
were  practised,  if  not  bred,  to  the  art  of  blotting  out  nations,  and 
pouring   out  human  gore,   and  must  be  sustained  in  the  trade  of. 
blood,  because  they  were  bred  to  it.     And  Alexander  the  copper- 
smith, must  oppose  the  gospel,  because  else  he  should  have  no 


MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.  461 

shrines  to  make  for  Diana.     Did  he  reason  well,  or  did  he  proba- 
bly lose  his  soul  1 

That  you  was  bred  to  the  business  of  making  or  vending  ardent 
spirits,  may  involve  your  parents  in  guilt,  but  it  cannot  exonerate 
you  from  the  guilt  of  doing  what  you  know  is  wrong.  It  surely 
is  your  business  to  inquire  whether  your  calling  involves  the  good 
or  the  injury  of  the  world,  whether  you  promote  its  health,  its 
character  and  comfort,  or  its  undoing.  Whether  you  aid  its  popu- 
lation on  to  heaven  or  perdition.  Are  you  exonerated  from  any 
such  inquiry  1  You  give  us  then  the  very  answer  that  the  high- 
wayman will,  I  pursue  the  business  I  was  bred  to.  And  when  you 
have  answered  his  argument  and  persuaded  him  to  be  an  honest 
man,  I  will  use  your  reasons,  and  convince  you  that  you  ought  im- 
mediately to  attempt  some  other  business. 

V.  Another  retailer  when  inquired  of  why  he  continued  in  the 
trade  made  answer,  There  is  no  other  business  I  can  do.     My  trade 
in  this  article  is  my  only  path  to  competency.     We  may  then 
surely  ask  you,  whether  you  have  tried,  and  settled  the  question 
beyond  controversy,  that  you  must  £ell  rum  or  starve,  that  is,  you 
must  do  what  God  forbids  or  dje  1 

Here  I  would  remark  that  one  should  not  come  to  this  conclusion 
till  he  has  made  an  effort.  It  surely  seldom  happens  under  the 
government  of  God,  that  men  can  adopt  no  legitimate  means  of 
earning  their  bread.  Should  the  gambler,  and  the  actor,  and  the 
slave-dealer,  and  the  privateers-man  become  convinced  that  their 
calling  is  mischievous,  and  ask  God  to  direct  them  to  an  honest 
livelihood,  would  there  be  nothing  they  could  do  but  die !  Would 
he  leave  to  beggary  or  starvation,  the  man  who  was  devoutly  pray- 
ing— "  Give  us  in  a  lawful  and  proper  manner,  day  by  day  our  dai- 
ly bread  1  Why,  this  question  is  answered  in  a  moment.  And 
were  we  obliged  to  answer  in  the  negative,  and  duty  was  certainly 
associated  with  death,  then  we  should  say  die.  That  man  blesses 
the  world  and  dies  at  a  good  old  age  who. dies  rather  than  sin. 
And  as  martyrdom  has  advanced  many  a  cause  it  may  possibly 
advance  yet  the  cause  of  temperance. 

VI.  One  brandy  merchant  made   answer,  when  asked  why  he 
continued  the  trade,  That  good  men  had  employed  themselves  in  ma- 
nufacturing  and  vending  ardent  spirit,  and  still  had  gone  to  heaven. 
That  is,  he  would  continue  in  what  might  be  forbidden  of  God, 
provided  it  would  be  possible  to  reach  heaven  at  last.     Now  we 
admit  the  possibility  you  plead,  but  we  must  tell   you  that  good 


462  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

men  in  days  past  had  less  light  on  this  subject  than  we  have,  and 
may  have  done  in  a  measure  harmlessly,  what  you  may  do  unpar- 
donably.  What  is  comparative  innocence  in  some  circumstances 
may  be  the  deadliest  guilt  in  others.  Had  Paul  done,  after  he 
was  enlightened,  the  same  things  that  he  had  done  before,  he  had 
done  them  to  his  own  undoing.  And  he  assures  us,  under  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  he  obtained  mercy  because  he 
did  it  ignorantly  in  unbelief.  Had  John  Newton,  when  engaged 
in  the  slave  trade,  been  enlightened  as  he  was  afterward,  he  pro- 
bably had  never  lived  to  sing  as  he  did  of  the  grace  and  mercy  of 
God. 

Moreover,  no  man  in  his  right  reason,  would  act  on  the  prin- 
ciple here  avowed.  He  would  not  commit  theft,  and  robbery,  and 
murder  and  adultery,  because  men  may  have  committed  these  dark 
deeds,  and  still,  perhaps,  have  gone  to  heaven.  The  very  men  I 
reason  with,  would  turn  pale  to  hear  these  crimes  palliated  by  the 
same  arguments  that  sustain  the  practice  of  vending  this  article  of 
death.  One  may  have  done  in  his  ignorance,  even  conscientiously, 
what  to  do  now  would  cost  him  his  soul.  "  The  times  of  this 
ignorance  God  winked  at,  but  now  commandeth  all  men  every 
where  to  repent." 

Be  it  that  there  may  be  some  good  men  even  yet  in  the  trade, 
one  would  hardly  dare  to  sin,  because  good  men  will  sin  with  him. 
I  would  not  engage  in  unlawful  commerce,  were  it  possible  that 
an  angel  would  share  the  profits  with  me.  The  rich  man  in  the 
gospel  had  accomplished  associates  till  the  day  he  perished.  The 
argument  proves,  merely,  that  good  men  may  have  mistaken  their 
duty,  or  may  have  known  their  duty,  and  for  a  time,  had  not  suf- 
ficient moral  courage  to  do  it.  Could  we  know  the  views  that 
such  men  will  have  of  the  traffic,  when  they  shall  see  the  world 
on  fire,  their  views  then  might  decide  our  duty. 

VII.  Another  merchant  was  heard  to  say,  If  I  should  pour  upon 
the  ground  the  store  of  this  article,  that  I  have  on  hand,  I  should 
wrong  my  creditors. 

Let  me  just  ask  that  man  a  question  or  two.  Did  you  purchase 
that  store  of  provisions  since  you  doubted  whether  the  trade  was 
right  1  And  did  you  determine  that  you  would  sell  it  right  or 
wrong.  How  then  can  you  answer  to  God  and  your  own  con- 
science, for  the  sin  of  buying  it  1  A  mighty  sin  may  have  been 
committed  before  you  come  to  the  question  of  selling,  I  mean  the 
sin  of  buying.  If  your  own  conscience  met  you,  and  the  law  of 


463 

God,  and  poured  their  rebukes  upon  you  for  the  sin  of  buying, 
you  may  so  heighten  the  iniquity  by  selling,  that  God  shall  never 
grant  you  forgiveness. 

And  God  may  punish  you  in  the  very  act,  and  cause  the  trade 
which  you  pursue  with  hesitancy  and  doubt,  to  conduct  you  speed- 
ily to  bankruptcy.  God  will  not,  I  think,  if  he  intends  your  sal- 
vation, prosper  you  in  a  business  that  is  keeping  the  world 
depraved.  Is  not  such  the  character  of  your  present  customers, 
that  you  must  needs  be  afraid  of  failure  if  you  trust  them  1  And 
then  to  be  closeted  with  such  men,  as  your  business  now  brings 
about  you,  how  degrading,  even  were  you  in  no  danger  from  them. 
But  should  it  be,  that  you  have  greatly  offended  God  already  by 
the  traffic,  the  sale  of  the  stock  you  have  on  hand  in  spite  of  a 
disapproving  conscience,  may  remove  you  beyond  the  hope  of 
forgiveness.  At  the  most,  you  cannot  calculate  with  any  certainty 
that  another  month's  continuance  in  the  trade,  may  not  undo  you 
for  eternity. 

I  knew  the  following  affecting  case,  most  intimately.  A  mer- 
chant had  come  to  the  resolve  to  make  no  further  purchase  when 
he  had  sold  out  the  stock  of  spirit  that  he  had  on  hand.  But 
while  he  was  doing  this,  his  largest  customer  in  this  article  be- 
came by  the  too  free  use  of  it,  a  blind  man,  and  must  now  go 
sightless,  groping  his  gloomy  way  to  the  grave,  if  indeed  with 
the  loss  of  his  eyes,  he  does  not  part  with  his  life  too,  and  go 
down  at  last  to  perdition.  Ah !  what  you  ought  to  do  with  the 
stock  on  hand,  would  be  a  question  easily  settled  were  the  world 
on  fire,  or  could  you  see  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven.  If  the  loss  of  it  would  render  you  a  bankrupt,  I  know 
not  that  the  case  is  altered  the  dust  of  the  balance.  Are  you  not 
your  brother's  keeper  1 

Money  is  not  to  be  placed  in  the  scale  against  duty,  a  moment. 
If  the  loss  would  not  render  you  a  bankrupt,  pour  it  out  ;  if  other- 
wise, give  it  up  to  your  creditors,  and  advise  them  to  pour  it  out. 
And  let  it  be  at  no  hour  of  the  day,  nor  day  of  the  week,  nor 
week  of  the  year,  nor  year  of  time,  when  you  ever  embark  in 
another  recruit,  and  our  prayer  shall  be  that  God  will  bless  you. 

VIII.  But  another  dealer  was  heard  to  say,  If  I  do  not  supply 
the  drunkard  with  the  means  of  his  own  undoing,  another  will,  and  I 
may  as  well  have  the  profits  as  any  one. 

And  would  you  add,  I  may  as  well  be  condemned  for  it  as  ano- 
ther 1  The  dictate  of  wisdom  is,  If  it  would  be  wrong  to  do  it, 


464  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

don't  you  do  it.  It  is  fearfully  hazardous  to  commit  sin,  because 
it  will  be  committed.  Let  them  do  it  that  dare  do  it,  but  let  no 
one  rush  upon  destruction  with  his  eyes  open.  No  argument  has 
done  more  mischief  than  this,  and  yet  none  is  more  weak.  Must 
I  be  willing  to  sin,  and  risk  my  soul,  because  somebody  will  sin  if 
I  do  not  \  May  I  keep  a  gambling  house  because  there  are  a 
great  many  people  who  will  be  inconsiderate,  and  become  mad  on 
the  game,  and  will  gamble,  and  if  I  do  not  provide  them  the  means 
of  their  undoing,  and  have  the  profits  of  it,  others  will  1  Shall  I 
go  farther  still,  and  keep  that  house  which  the  wise  man  calls  the 
way  to  hell,  because  if  I  do  not  another  will  ]  Shall  I  furnish 
daggers  and  firebrands,  because  men  will  be  so  depraved  that  they 
will  burn  houses,  and  I  may  as  well  have  the  profits  of  furnishing 
them  the  means  as  any  one  1  Men  will  practice  forgery  ;  and 
hence  the  worthless  Burrows,  who  sells  well  executed  bank  notes 
as  pictures,  to  which  any  villain  who  has  skill  in  penmanship  can 
affix  the  signature,  can  offer  a  plea  as  good  as  yours  in  support  of 
his  calling.  Somebody  will  print,  and  furnish  notes  for  counter- 
feiters, if  he  does  not.  Ah  !  the  argument  proves  too  much,  and 
so  proves  nothing.  Will  not  God  ask  you  in  the  last  day  the 
fearful  question,  where  is  Abel  thy  brother  ? 

IX.  I  knew  one  merchant  who  sustained  himself  in  the  practice 
by  the  plea,  That  good  men  should  be  the  only  venders  of  ardent  spi- 
rits, as  they  will  keep  the  most  decent  houses,  and  sell  the  poison  most 
discreetly. 

It  frightens  one  to  bring  up  the  conclusions  that  can  be  sustained 
by  this  argument.  It  would  go  to  prove  that  every  gateway  to 
hell  should  be  kept  by  an  angel,  not  indeed  to  keep  men  from  en- 
tering and  passing  that  way,  but  to  make  men  pass  on  to  perdition 
decently.  No  !  no  !  Highly  as  we  respect  and  esteem  some  of 
the  men  who  have  been  formerly  employed  in  the  traffic,  we  would, 
if  possible,  from  this  time,  disassociate  it  for  ever  from  character 
and  decency.  If  the  article  must  be  sold  for  the  use,  and  ruin,  and 
utter  damnation  of  men,  /  would  place  at  the  tap  the  same  lying  ser- 
pent that  handed  Eve  the  apple,  that  it  might  appear  the  very  infernal 
commerce  that  it  is.  The  prince  of  hell  would  thus  have  opportunity 
to  separate  from  his  kingdom  all  that  is  moral,  and  decent  and 
healthful,  and  his  empire  be  dark  and  dreary  as  he  would  have  it. 
But  you  will  say  I  am  too  severe.  No  matter,  if  I  am  only  on  the 
side  of  truth. 


465 

X.  But  a  retailer  says,  The  importers  and  distillers  are  in  fault, 
and  should  not  furnish  the  temptation. 

Ah !  it  would,  indeed,  be  very  convenient  for  us,  if  other  men 
would  dam  up  the  currents  of  death,  and  leave  us  nothing  to 
do.  It  would  indeed  be  a  blessing  incalculable,  if  the  distillers  and 
importers  would  stop  their  business,  and  thus  quench  the  stream 
of  liquid  fire  at  the  very  foot  of  its  ^Etna.  But  can  we  not,  and 
will  we  not  quit  sinning,  unless  the  means  of  sinning  are  put  out 
of  our  reach  1  Dare  you  not  disoblige  that  portion  of  the  com- 
munity that  ask  you  to  kill  them,  and  damn  them  1  Do  they  so 
hold  your  destiny  in  their  hands,  that  you  may  not  hope  to  prosper 
without  their  friendship  1  Suppose  our  rich  importers  should 
bring  in  whole  ship  loads  of  poignards,  and  place  them  on  the  side- 
walks of  our  city,  and  you  should  seize  one,  and  plunge  it  into 
some  human  heart,  would  the  court  lay  the  sin,  or  any  part  of  it, 
at  the  door  of  the  importer,  or  would  it  sentence  you  to  be  hanged  1 

I  know  it  would  be  very  convenient,  if  we  could  persuade  other 
men  to  do  our  duty,  and  stop  us,  when  we  will  not  stop  ourselves, 
in  the  paths  of  unrighteousness.  But  we  have  no  right  to  expect 
that  reform  will  begin  at  this  end.  Men  will  stop  manufacturing 
and  importing,  only  when  the  trade  is  no  longer  profitable.  While 
the  trade  is  in  the  way  to  gain  and  wealth,  there  are  men  who 
would  not  abandon  it,  hardly  if  they  saw  the  world  on  fire.  No  ! 
public  sentiment  must  be  urged  up,  till  there  shall  be  none  to  drink, 
and  then  there  will  be  none  to  retail,  and  then  there  will  be  none 
to  import  or  manufacture.  This  is  the  order  and  the  process  by 
which  all  the  good  has  been  accomplished  that  ever  has  been  done 
in  the  world. 

XI.  There  is  another  reply  that  we  have  heard  from  venders 
that  should  not  pass  unnoticed.  They  say,  Legislators  should,  by 
heavy  imposts  and  taxation,  stay  the  influx  and  the  creation  of  the  arti- 
cle, and  thus  cure  the  evil,  by  drying  up  the  fountain.  ' 

All  this  is  visionary.  Till  the  people  are  willing  to  quit  the  use 
of  it,  and  venders  to  dispense  with  the  gains  of  it,  our  rulers  know 
well  that  they  shall  lose  their  office  if  they  meddle  with  it.  It 
would  be  both  convenient  and  desirable,  and  more  yet,  duty,  that 
our  civil  authorities  remove  the  temptation  by  legislative  acts,  and 
thus  save  us  the  labor  and  toil,  of  boosting  public  sentiment  to 
accomplish  the  matter  in  another  way.  But  a  corrupt  community 
under  a  government  like  ours,  will  always  have  a  legislature  that 
live  at  peace  with  its  corruptions.  The  men  in  office  will  duly 
59 


466  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

represent  their  constituents,  and  wear,  at  least,  all  the  vices  pre- 
valent among  the  people.  Hence  a  good  influence  must  travel 
upward,  and  reach  the  legislature  by  individual  impulse. 

As  said  already,  men  have  consciences,  legislative  and  corporate 
bodies  have  none.  Men,  too,  expect  a  future  judgment,  but  cor- 
porate and  legislative  bodies  fear  only  a  loss  of  their  influence, 
office  and  salary.  Vice  may  flow  down,  therefore,  but  virtue  must 
climb.  When  far  more  than  a  moiety  of  our  population  are 
strictly  temperate,  and  have  no  interest  to  serve  by  conniving  at 
lust,  especially  when  the  better  part  shall  feel  that  their  interest 
would  be  served  by  having  the  community  temperate,  then,  it  will 
be  popular  to  legislate  on  this  subject,  and  the  authorities  of  our 
land  will  make  whatever  enactments  we  pray  for. 

Only  let  the  people  quit  drinking,  and  the  venders  quit  selling, 
and  then,  when  we  stand  in  no  need  of  their  help,  our  legislative 
bodies  will  be  the  perfect  sycophants  of  the  temperate,  as  they  are, 
and  long  have  been,  of  the  drunken  community.  Thus  the  de- 
stroyer will  be  strangled  in  his  dotage,  but  every  man  of  discern- 
ment must  see  that  the  power  and  influence  that  shall  do  the  work,, 
must  be  individual,  and  not  legislative. 

XII.  But  said  one,  (not  the  last  by  ten  thousand,)  my  property 
is  my  own,  and  I  will  not  permit  my  enjoyment  of  it  to  be  abridged 
by  your  hypocritical  and  fanatical  opinions. 

Your  property  your  own  ! !  You  do  not  mean  that  you  created 
it,  nor  yet  that  independently  of  God  you  earned  it,  or  gained  it. 
If  your  wealth  was  through  the  products  of  the  earth,  it  was  God 
that  sent  the  showers,  and  shaped  the  seasons,  and  tempered  the 
atmosphere,  and  grew  your  wheat  for  you.  If  it  was  through  suc- 
cess in  trade,  it  was  God  that  lifted  you  up,  that  furnished  you 
with  the  mind  you  used,  and  directed  the  gale  that  blew  your 
commerce  home,  and  stayed  the  storm  that  might  have  wrecked 
your  fortune- in  a  moment.  If  gotten  by  toil,  then  it  was  God  that 
nerved  the  arm  to  labor,  and  built,  and  sustained  every  muscle  and 
sinew  that  went  to  the  work,  and  made  the  heart  beat,  and  the 
lungs  heave,  and  forced  the  life  stream  along  in  its  dark  and  mys- 
terious channel. 

If  you  mean  any  thing  that  contradicts  all  this,  your  property  is 
not  your  own,  but  the  Lord's.  The  silver  and  gold  are  His.  His 
are  all  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills.  If  we  are  God's  stewards,  and  our  wealth  is  his,  we  may 
not  use  it  in  contravention  of  his  authority  and  still  expect  that 


MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.  467 

he  will  give  us  day  by  day  our  daily  bread.  He  will  rather  blast 
us  with  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  us  with  the  bright- 
ness of  his  coming.  Oh  !  how  terrible  is  that  account,  which  we 
must  give  at  last  of  the  manner  in  which  we  have  squandered  the 
Lord's  money,  in  trying  to  undo  a  world  that  God  would  render 
blessed.  It  seems  to  me,  that  there  is  an  inference,  plainly  de- 
ducible  from  the  word  of  the  Lord,  like  this  :  "  If  God  spared  not 
his  own  Son,  but  freely  gave  him  up  for  us  all,"  in  what  light  will 
he  regard  the  man  whose  whole  powers  are  bent  to  counteract  by 
every  possible  means  in  his  power,  the  purposes  of  his  mercy. 
When  he  shall  make  inquisition  for  blood,  will  not  the  whole  cata- 
logue of  venders  stand  out  in  bold  relief,  on  the  tablet  of  the  judg- 
ment. 

I  think  I  see  a  reason,  why  the  very  men  who  have  increased 
their  estate  by  this  traffic,  should  be,  now  the  light  has  broken  in, 
among  the  first  to  see,  and  cure  the  plague.  If  the  subject  should 
press  any  consciences  in  our  land,  it  should  be  the  consciences  of 
the  men  who  are  living  at  ease  on  the  gains  of  this  trade.  Their 
motives  to  feel,  and  act,  it  would  seem,  must  be  weighty  as  a 
world. '  Let  me  present  a  few  of  these  motives. 

Retailers  !  Ye  know  not  what  ye  do.  You  cannot  fully  estimate 
the  amount  of  mischief  you  may  have  done  to  families,  and  to 
souls  already.  You  must  live,  if  God  will  let  you,  and  your  off- 
spring, in  the  society  which  your  traffic  is  corrupting.  The  plague 
may  reach  some  child  or  friend  of  yours,  and  he  may  quit  life  in 
the  cabin  of  the  debauched,  and  moulder  in  a  drunkard's  grave. 
This  world  belongs  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  while  your  trade  is  increas- 
ing its  alienation  from  him.  The  misery  produced  by  ardent  spir- 
its is  causing  a  thousand  hearts  to  ache,  and  we  wish  some  evi- 
dence that  yours  ache.  The  retailer  brings  about  him  a  commu- 
nity in  which  his  soul  cannot  live,  and  be  in  health.  An  estate 
gotten  by  a  traffic  that  is  cursing  the  world,  cannot  go  down  to 
posterity  with  the  blessing  of  God.  Many  things  indicate  that  the 
entire  world  will  soon  be  subdued  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  but  this  can- 
not be,  and  the  trade  in  alcohol  continue.  The  dying  groans  of 
the  thirty  thousand  drunkards,  who  perish  annually  in  our  land, 
should  move  you.  The  moans  of  their  widows  and  orphans  should 
move  you.  That  "  drunkards  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God,"  should  move  you.  "  Wo  to  him  that  giveth  his  neighbor 
drink,"  should  move  you. 

God  will  make  you  your  brother's  keeper.  I  have  learned  that  a 
poor  woman  went  to  a  neighboring  grog  shop,  and  requested  the 


468  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

dealer  not  to  sell  any  more  rum  to  her  husband,  as  it  sometimes 
rendered  him  a  madman.  A  few  days  afterward  in  a  rum  excited 
frenzy,  he  plunged  the  knife  into  her  throat.  She  stayed  the  blood 
with  her  hand,  and  ran  to  the  shop,  and  there  poured  out  her  life- 
stream  at  the  feet  of  the  wretch  who  had  just  pocketed  the  price 
of  her  blood. 

Not  long  since  the  following  tragedy  was  acted  over  in  New 
York.  One  of  our  builders  was  suddenly  called  to  the  death-bed 
of  his  child.  A  man  in  his  service,  supposing  that  his  employer 
would  naturally  return  no  more  to  the  building  during  that  day, 
determined  to  spend  it  in  the  pleasures  of  a  debauch.  When  men 
have  made  up  their  minds  to  be  drunkards,  they  will  not  stick  at 
all  at  a  lie.  He  hasted  off  to  one  of  our  good  moral  characters, 
whom  the  authorities  of  the  city  have  licensed  to  sell  ardent  spir- 
its, and  in  his  employer's  name  asked  for  a  quart  of  rum.  I  do 
not  know  that  he  offered,  as  the  reason  for  getting  it,  that  his  em- 
ployer's child  was  at  the  point  of  death,  a  very  common  subter- 
fuge in  these  days,  but  he  was  denied  the  rum  because  he  had  no 
order  to  this  effect.  He  went,  however,  to  another  dealer  and 
procured  the  quart,  and  drank  it,  I  know  not  whether  at  one  draught 
or  four,  and  immediately  sunk  into  an  apoplectic  slumber,  pro- 
found as  the  sleep  of  death,  and  came  not  back  again  to  reason, 
till  he  awoke  in  the  world  of  wo.  This  remark  is  made  in  the 
firm  belief  of  that  section  in  the  book  of  God  which  declares  that 
no  drunkard  hath  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  miser- 
able man  seems  to  have  been  mad  on  his  own  destruction.  He 
did  the  deed  in  the  very  face  of  death.  He  would  have  feared 
to  play  the  fool,  had  not  his  employer  been  called  to  the  death- 
bed. If  he  had  feared  death  as  much,  or  had  any  fear  of  God  be- 
fore his  eyes,  he  might  have  escaped  perdition  at  that  time.  Or 
had  he  been  a  man  of  truth,  then  he  had  lived,  or  had  the  man,  or 
rather  the  woman,  that  sold  him  the  quart,  for  it  was  a  woman, 
had  there  been  the  fear  of  God  in  her  heart,  then  he  had  lived. 
Poor  soul  !  he  had  several  chances  of  living,  but  they  all  failed. 

And  let  me  say  here — though  I  am  quite  ashamed  to  suppose 
that  a  woman  would  encourage  that  sin  that  is  binding  her  sex  in 
chains  of  iron — the  woman  who  sold  him  the  potion  that  brought 
him  to  a  premature  grave,  had  lived  with  an  intemperate  husband, 
who  in  a  fit  of  intoxication,  had  burned  the  building  that  stood  on 
the  very  ground  where  she  sold  the  rum.  Thus  men  and  women 
too,  it  seems,  can  sport  with  fire-brands,  arrows,  and  death.  It 
would  seem  that  one  had  had  the  means  of  being  warned  and  wak- 


469 

ened,  if  any  warning  would  render  woman  wise.  But  she  took 
up  her  husband  and  buried  him,  and  then  went  to  selling  rum.  I 
sincerely  hope  she  will  not  follow  him  to  the  drunkard's  grave. 
When  her  bed  was  on  fire  first,  and  then  her  house,  and  she  at 
length  a  widow,  who  would  have  dreamed  that  she  would  have  em- 
ployed herself  in  selling  liquid  fire  !  0  tempora !  0  mores  !  I 
passed  it  a  few  evenings  since,  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
saw  at  her  door  two  sturdy  sons  of  Erin  fisting  and  biting  each 
other,  like  sons  of  Belial,  and  screaming  at  each  bite,  and  pounce 
like  panthers  on  some  craggy  rocks  of  the  Alps.  We  called  the 
watch,  and  had  them  put  where  they  would  get  sober,  and  where 
they  would  have  opportunity  to  meet  the  police,  all  breakfasted 
and  warm,  and  answer  to  the  board,  who  gave  them  license  to  be 
riotous,  for  the  tumult  of  the  Sabbath  evening. 

0,  how  it  sickens  the  heart  to  know  one  such  case  all  through  ! 
I  remember  that  it  was  a  law  in  Israel,  that  in  an  extreme  case, 
when  a  house  had  the  leprosy,  it  should  be  cleansed  by  being  burnt 
to  ashes.  But  it  seems  that  even  burning  does  not  cleanse  the 
modern  leprosy.  The  disease  outlives  the  fire,  and  comes  up  from 
the  ashes  like  the  fabled  Phoenix,  all  fledged  for  a  renewed  occu- 
pancy. I  suppose  it  finds  a  covert  in  the  crumbling  walls  and 
burning  timbers,  and  comes  out  again  to  infect  the  timbers  and 
walls  that  are  used  in  repairing  the  ruins.  I  fear  nothing  will  cure 
it  but  the  heat  of  that  pit,  "  the  pile  whereof  is  fire  and  much 
wood,  and  the  breath  of  the  Lord  like  a  stream  of  brimstone  doth 
kindle  it." 

In  a  town  at  the  north,  where  the  cause  of  temperance  gained 
a  few  years  since  a  sudden  and  powerful  ascendancy  in  the  public 
mind,  there  died  a  rum-seller,  in  circumstances  that  made  a  power- 
ful impression  on  many  minds.  Another  family  lived  in  the  house 
with  him,  and  one  day  the  lady  of  that  family,  perceiving  by  what 
she  heard  and  saw,  that  something  was  going  on  that  was  wrong, 
burst  suddenly  into  his  apartment,  and  found  him  hanging  by  the 
neck.  She  called  her  husband,  who  immediately  cut  him  down. 
But  as  as  it  was  his  purpose  to  die  as  soon  as  he  could  recover 
strength,  he  broke  from  the  embrace  that  held  him,  ran  to  a  shelf, 
seized  a  razor,  and  hastily  opened  a  jugular  vein,  and  died  in  a 
few  seconds. 

The  history  of  the  transaction  is  short.  The  man  had  begun  to 
be  intemperate,  was  a  customer  at  his  own  bar,  and  very  soon  per- 
ceived that  he  must  feel  the  pressure  of  the  hard  times,  which  tip- 
pling always  produces,  especially  when  one  becomes  an  inebriate 


470 

at  his  own  bar.  He  had  been  observed  to  be  gloomy,  but  I  do  not 
remember  that  any  apprehensions  as  to  such  a  result  had  been  en- 
tertained till  the  fatal  moment  when  he  was  found  hanging  by  the 
neck.  How  long  he  had  been  in  the  trade  I  do  not  remember,  nor 
can  I  judge  to  what  extent  he  had  offended  the  Lord,  by  the  ruin 
he  had  brought  upon  other  families.  He  was  a  dealer  in  the  arti- 
cle ;  and  I  remember  that  the  society  afterwards  formed  in  that 
town,  calculated,  that  every  trader  in  the  town  manufactured,  at 
the  least  calculation,  one  confirmed  drunkard  every  three  years, 
and  sent  one  family  down  into  the  vale  of  beggary  and  rags  and 
wretchedness.  If,  then,  unless  this  calculation  was  erratic  and 
wild,  he  had  been  a  dealer  in  the  article  three  years,  and  I  know 
not  but  he  had  twenty,  he  had  probably  ruined  one  family,  and  God 
in  righteous  indignation  made  him  a  victim  to  his  own  traffic.  I 
would  willingly  have  thrown  a  veil  over  this  scene,  and  saved  his 
widow,  who  has  married  honorably,  and  his  children,  who,  for 
aught  I  know,  are  doing  well,  the  pain  of  applying  this  scrap  of 
history  to  their  own  case,  were  it  not  that  we  have  been  silent  too 
long  already,  and  indulged  our  sense  of  delicacy  till  we  have  al- 
lowed the  plague  to  spread  through  every  limb  of  our  rising  and 
otherwise  happy  republic.  But  we  must  be  no  longer  so  much 
afraid  of  wounding  the  sensibility  of  the  living,  as  not  to  expose 
the  speaking  facts  which  have  transpired  in  the  madness  and  ruin 
that  men  have  brought  upon  themselves  and  others  by  the  sale  of 
strong  drink.  If  we  had  only  courage  enough  to  dig  through  the 
wall,  and  lay  open  the  chamber  of  imagery,  as  the  prophet  was 
directed  to  do,  and  see  the  train  of  misery  and  death  that  moves 
in  the  wake  of  every  rum-dealer  in  the  land,  the  tale  would  make 
the  ears  of  every  one  who  heard  it  tingle.  Oh  !  he  has  the  heart 
of  a  tiger,  and  blood  is  his  legitimate  prey.  When  we  see  how 
with  a  spirit  of  cold  moneyed  calculation,  he  can  take  the  lovely 
woman  and  the  beloved  wife  and  crucify  her  husband,  and  turn  her 
from  her  home,  to  starve  and  freeze,  and  make  her  children  beg- 
gars and  homeless  and  fatherless  at  a  price  at  which  one  would 
hardly  cut  off  the  head  of  a  dog,  we  are  amazed  at  the  Jong-suf- 
fering patience  of  God.  And  I  know  not  whether  he  even  weeps 
at  the  outrages  he  commits.  Were  I  not  the  subject  of  feelings 
too  strong  to  trust  myself,  I  would  stop  and  address  him  if  I  might 
in  a  voice  loud  enough  to  reach  the  two  oceans.  I  would  say, 
that  the  man  who  is  destined  to  such  a  business,  ought  to  have 
been  whelped  by  a  wolf  and  destined  to  wear  his  teeth  and  his  ap- 
petite, that  his  personal  equipments  might  agree  with  his  office^ 


MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER.  471 

and  herd  him  with  his  kind.  I  would  train  him  to  his  work  in  the 
business  of  a  blood-hound,  that  he  might  scent  his  prey  afar  off.  I 
would  at  least  have  him  bred  a  hangman,  and  spend  the  whole  foun- 
tain of  his  tears  before  he  should  be  placed  at  the  tap.  Then  his 
employment  and  his  soul  would  be  in  unholy  symphony. 

But  I  must  return  from  my  impassioned  feeling,  or  you  will  say 
I  rail.  In  our  country  every  man  must  be  free.  True,  but  the 
term  is  abused.  One  ought  not  to  free  to  make  disastrous  inroads 
upon  every  family  that  he  may  have  it  in  his  power  to  destroy. 
He  ought  not  to  be  free  to  do  this  even  if  the  father  of  that 
family  is  willing  that  it  should  be  done.  If  one  had  power  sud- 
denly to  convert  men  into  panthers,  and  could  obtain  license  so 
to  do,  he  ought  not  to  feel  himself  at  liberty  to  do  it,  till  the  whole 
community  around  him  are  consulted  on  the  question  whether  it 
would  be  safe  to  have  a  panther  run  at  large.  To  be  free  is  not 
to  be  free  to  destroy,  and  he  has  not  this  kind  of  freedom  even 
with  regard  to  the  soil  he  owns.  He  may  not  so  use  it  as  to  in- 
jure his  neighbor.  He  may  not  dig  a  deep  pit  and  leave  it  open. 
He  may  not  overthrow  a  build  ing,  even  if  he  will,  and  can  operate 
only  on  his  own  premises.  He  may  not  incautiously  blast  the  pon- 
derous rock  that  may  lie  in  his  own  territory.  He  may  not  be 
free  to  remove  some  natural  embankment  that  wards  off  a  stream 
which,  when  turned  upon  his  neighbor's  habitation,  would  endan- 
ger the  life  of  his  family.  One  may  not  have  the  freedom  to  set 
fire  to  his  own  house.  He  may  not  fall  the  tree  that  may  even 
throw  down  his  neighbor's  enclosures.  Free  as  we  are  in  this 
country,  we  are  free  only  to  use  our  own  things  so  as  not  to  injure 
our  neighbor.  And  on  this  principle  it  is  easy  to  show  the  extent 
to  which  men  are  free  to  sell  ardent  spirits. 

Having  finished  my  rhapsody  last  evening  at  rather  a  late  hour, 
under  strongly  excited  feelings,  I  retired  to  my  bed,  and  fancied 
myself  employed  in  advocating  the  cause  of  an  injured  man.  He 
had  been  prosecuted  for  a  libel  by  one  of  our  retailers  who  would 
impede  the  cause  of  reform  by  bringing  odium  upon  the  man  who 
ventured  to  rebuke  his  iniquitous  traffic.  It  ran  as  follows,  as 
nearly  as  I  can  remember. 

May  it  please  the  court.  I  have  risen  to  advocate  the  cause  of 
an  injured  man.  You  have  heard  the  testimony,  and  the  wretch 
stands  before  you.  What  has  his  history  been  but  that  of  a  miser, 
a  swindler,  a  calumniator,  a  robber,  and  a  bear.  I  know  the  court 
feel  clement  while  I  name  that  man  after  the  blackest  prowler  of 
the  desert.  He  has  lived  to  counteract  the  benevolence  of  God, 


472  MAN  HIS  BROTHER'S  KEEPER. 

• 

and  send  want  and  misery,  and  infamy  arid  death,  into  habitations, 
otherwise  the  abode  of  comfort  and  hope.  It  has  been  his  employ- 
ment, the  work  he  delights  in,  and  what  his  soul  is  shaped  to,  to 
barter  disease,  and  famine,  and  riot,  and  ruin,  for  farms,  and  dwell- 
ings, and  moneys,  to  hoard  up,  and  boast  of,  and  buy  a  name  with, 
and  friendship,  and  influence.  I  will  not  name  his  calling,  for  he 
disgraces  even  that,  and  there  are  men  in  it  whose  shoe  latchet  he 
may  not  unloose.  The  power  of  calculating  his  own  interest  is 
the  only  one  of  his  soul  that  he  has  cultivated.  He  would  depopu- 
late the  world,  if  he  could  hold  in  fee  simple  the  whole  territory. 
Principle  he  hds  none.  What  is  right,  or  virtuous,  or  decent — he 
never  once  asks  himself,  when  money  can  be  had. 

He  would  ruin  his  family  to  gain  pelf,  would  school  his  offspring 
in  his  own  house  with  the  tippler,  the  lewd,  and  the  lost,  and  then 
wonder  why  he  has  not  better  children.  All  the  degraded  pay 
court  to  him,  will  serve  him  because  he  feeds  their  appetites,  and 
blunts  their  reason,  and  kills  the  keenness  of  their  consciences,  and 
smiles  on  their  deeds  of  darkness  /ind  desperation.  A  friend  he 
has  not,  nor  cares  to  have,  unless  that  friend  will  help  him  heap 
up  gold. 

His  very  advocate  is  bought  over  to  him  by  the  fee,  and  has 
cursed  his  client  as  he  passed  him  a  thousand  times,  loudly  and 
fearlessly.  If  you  would  kill  the  charm  that  his  money  has,  his 
cringing  advocate  would  rise,  and  put  off  his  hypocritical  face,  and 
shout  a  loud  and  long  amen  to  every  execration  I  can  dash  upon 
him. 

How  has  he  treated  my  client,  and  why  1  hated  him,  insulted 
him,  belied  him,  excited  others  to  do  the  like  deeds,  and  all  the 
while  be  buying  eulogies  for  himself  by  his  drams: 

And  for  what  all  this  !  For  knowing  him  too  well,  for  rebuking 
him  too  sharply,  for  holding  out  no  Bible  hope  to  him,  for  unbaring 
perdition  to  him,  for  hurting  his  fraudulent  gains,  by  advocating  a 
virtue  that  will  not  be  duped  by  his  money,  and  forming  a  public 
opinion  that  desecrates  him,  and  last  and  most  of  all,  by  exhibiting 
a  manliness  of  deportment,  and  a  rigidness  of  morals,  that  casts 
upon  him  a  shade  dark  as  the  sulphurous  smoke  of  the  pit. 

The  court  will  not  rebuke  me.  They  ought  so  to  do,  were  I 
speaking  of  a  man.  But  they  know,  and  the  jury  know,  that  my 
client  has  encountered  a  bear,  who  cannot  be  made  more  black, 
nor  mischievous,  nor  deformed,  than  he  really  is. 

I  submit  the  case.  I  need  not  have  said  any  thing.  The  jury 
will  stay  in  their  box  and  write  their  verdict.  They  will  rescue 


473 

my  client  from  the  claws  of  the  Ursus,  and  beat  him  off  to  go  and 
hunt  other  prey,  with  his  teeth  blunted,  and  his  nails  shortened, 
and  his  track  scented,  as  he  traces  his  future  midnight  routes. 

Justice  will  overtake  him  now  and  hereafter.  Now,  by  your  ver- 
dict, and  hereafter,  by  the  storm  of  rebuke  that  will  brood  over 
him.  His  ill-gotten  estate  will  go  to  the  winds.  Some  heir  of  his 
will  squander  it  as  fast  as  he  obtained  it,  and  send  his  father's 
name  with  it  into  oblivion. 

Ah !  but  I  just  now  remember  that  he  will  be  tried  by  a  higher 
court,  and  have  a  being  when  the  moon  is  turned  to  blood.  Let 
me  say  to  him,  Poor  man,  think  of  that  last  day.  Will  your  abuse 
of  my  client  ease  your  expiring  pillow  1  Will  it  stay  the  rage  of 
the  fever  1  Will  it  cool  your  burning  tongue  1  Will  it  light  up 
your  dying  chamber  1  Will  it  bribe  off  death,  and  hold  at  bay  his 
angels  1  Will  it  illumine  your  avenue  to  the  dark  world,  or  up- 
ward to  a  better  1  No. 

60 


SERMON   XLI. 
TRUE  PIETY  PEACEFULLY  PLEASANT. 

ROMANS  VIII.  6. 
But  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace. 

WE  have  here  precisely  the  contrast  of  the  dark  picture  con- 
tained in  the  former  clause.  That  we  may  not  mistake  the  cha- 
racter drawn  in  this  clause  of  the  text,  we  have  the  description  in 
the  verse  preceding  :  "  While  they  that  are  after  the  flesh  mind  the 
things  of  the  flesh,  they  that  are  after  the  spirit  mind  the  things 
of  the  spirit."  They  dwell  with  delight  on  the  character  of  God, 
the  plan  of  mercy,  and  the  glories  of  heaven.  Their  thoughts  and 
their  affections  are  spiritual.  They  are  frequently  conversant  with 
the  things  unseen,  and  find  a  real  substance  in  all  the  objects  of 
faith.  With  them,  the  body,  with  all  its  wants  and  cares,  is  a 
minor  consideration,  while  the  amazing  interests  of  the  soul  are 
paramount  to  all  other  interests.  To  them  the  duties  of  religion 
are  pleasant,  and  the  cares  and  vexations  of  this  life  unpleasant, 
when  they  intrude  upon  the  thoughts  and  cares  of  a  better. 

To  be  thus  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace  ;  or  the  life  of 
true  piety  is  a  life  of  peaceful  pleasure.  This  sentiment  we  shall 
illustrate. 

1.  A  life  of  holiness  is  calculated  to  fill  the  mind  with  the  rich- 
est enjoyment,  and  raise  it  to  its  highest  state  of  improvement. 
The  objects  of  contemplation  that  lie  before  the  believing  mind 
are  dignified,  and  worthy  its  occupancy.  The  mind  was  made 
capable  of  dwelling  with  interest  and  profit  on  nobler  objects  than 
we  can  see  or  handle — objects  that  can  be  seen  only  by  the  eye 
of  faith.  Hence  the  mind  connected  with  a  heart  that  is  holy, 
rises  above  all  that  is  created,  and  employs  its  powers  in  contem- 
plating the  glory  of  God,  and  the  emanations  of  that  glory  which 
are  spread  over  other  beings.  Some  object  of  sense  may  be  the 
vehicle  that  conveys  the  mind  to  God ;  and  when  there  it  finds 
an  infinite  resource  of  all  that  is  grand  and  rich.  His  attributes 
have  each  their  attractive  charms.  To  gaze  upon  but  one  would 
be  all  the  heaven  that  a  finite  creature  would  need.  But  the  whole 


TRUE   PIETY   PEACEFULLY   PLEASANT.  475 

combined  become  a  cluster  whose  brightness  entrances  every 
power  of  the  mind,  and  oblige  it  to  forget  itself — lost  in  a  gran- 
deur, a  greatness,  and  a  glory  which  no  language  can  describe. 
The  plan  of  redemption  which  discloses  the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity, 
and  raises  a  hope  in  the  breast  of  sinners,  opens  before  the  be- 
lieving mind  a  scene  which  it  would  love  to  linger  through  all 
the  ages  of  its  duration.  Here  the  spiritual  rnind  feasts,  and  grows, 
and  lives.  It  is  an  atmosphere  far  above  that  which  breathes  about 
the  carnal  mind.  It  is  true  that  the  good  man  has  too  many 
thoughts  that  are  earthly,  sensual,  and  grovelling.  He  is  too 
often  conscious  of  starving  a  heavenly  mind  by  detaining  it  on 
earth,  and  filling  it  with  sublunary  cares. 

But,  habitually,  the  good  man  has  some  rich  and  noble  thoughts 
every  day,  and  grieves  when  they  do  not  return  every -hour.  He  has 
laid  up  his  treasure  in  heaven,  a  treasure  to  which  his  earthly  good 
things  will  not  compare,  and  about  that  treasure  his  mind  loves  to 
hover  and  play.  Now  who  does  not  see  that  a  mind  thus  occu- 
pied, has  a  more  dignified  employ  than  one  that  exhausts  all  its 
energies  in  the  contemplation  of  what  can  moulder  and  rot.  While 
the  one  may  be  said  to  live,  the  other  is  subjected  to  death.  In 
these  sublime  contemplations  the  reasoning  powers  find  a  profita- 
ble employment,  calculated  to  give  them  life  and  vigor.  No  man 
reasons  correctly,  who  does  not  give  to  unseen  things  a  paramount 
value.  Nor  has  any  man  a  subject  worthy  to  employ  his  powers  of 
research,  who  has  always  dwelt  upon  the  objects  of  a  created  world. 
It  is  the  Christian  who  can  the  sooner  mature  his  mental  energies. 
When  the  great  Newton  was  wandering  about  among  the  stars, 
had  he  not  been  the  friend  of  God,  and  seen  his  hand  in  every  law 
he  discovered,  he  would  still  have  died  as  a  child,  and  would  have 
carried  an  infant  mind  to  the  judgment.  But  every  thing  he  saw 
bore  the  impress  of  an  unseen  agency,  and  led  his  mind  up  to  the 
Author.  The  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  the  duties  and  the  destinies 
of  men,  employ  to  advantage  the  energies  of  a  spiritual  mind. 
When  it  can  there  trace  the  history  of  Providence,  or  force  its 
way  down  through  the  dark  track  of  prophesy,  it  finds  all  its  pow- 
ers put  in  requisition  to  vindicate  the  ways  of  God,  to  discover  the 
designs  of  his  mercy,  and  date  the  period  of  his  forbearance,  and 
its  own  deliverance.  Thus  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life,  inas- 
much as  it  gives  the  intellect  a  proper  employ,  and  best  promotes 
the  improvement  of  this  noble  power  of  the  man. 

2.  A  life  of  piety  furnishes  the  heart  with  those  affections  which 
give  it  the  highest  pleasure,  and  best  promote  its  improvement. 


476  TRUE   PIETY   PEACEFULLY   PLEASANT* 

There  is  no  small  object  in  God's  kingdom.  If  he  is  not  the  im- 
mediate object  of  the  affections  of  his  people,  still  they  have  a  no- 
ble object.  If  they  love  his  law,  his  gospel,  his  government,  his 
Church,  or  even  the  humblest  individual  in  his  household,  there  is 
no  one  of  these  affections  of  which  angels  would  be  ashamed. 
"  There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God,  over  one  sin- 
ner that  repenteth."  The  objects  of  Christian  affection  are  all 
of  that  nature  that  God  highly  approves,  and  to  which  heaven  is 
closely  assimilated. 

How  altered  is  the  man,  who,  from  having  placed  his  warmest 
regards  on  the  dying  objects  of  time  and  sense,  is  brought  by  the 
grace  of  God  to  love  these  higher,  better  objects ;  who,  having 
long  employed  his  heart  in  exercises  of  pride,  envy,  covetousness, 
wrath,  malice,  lust,  and  every  other  base  and  sordid  affection,  is 
brought  to  the  exercise  of  love,  joy,  and  peace  ;  who  having  in- 
dulged unbelief  and  all  the  catalogue  of  wrong  affections  that  fol- 
low in  the  train,  is  now  adding  "  to  his  faith,  virtue  ;  and  to  virtue, 
knowledge ;  and  to  knowledge,  temperance  ;  and  to  temperance, 
patience  ;  and  to  patience,  godliness ;  and  to  godliness,  brotherly 
kindness  5  and  to  brotherly  kindness,  charity."  It  is  impossible 
not  to  see  that  such  a  heart  is  more  at  rest,  has  a  nobler  employ- 
ment, breathes  a  higher,  purer  atmosphere,  and  enjoys  a  better 
peace,  than  the  man  who  suffers  his  affections  to  linger  about  the 
objects  of  sense. 

Occasionally  his  enjoyment  bears  a  very  near  relation  to  heaven 
itself.  God  is  pleased  to  disclose  his  character,  and  grant  a 
glimpse  of  his  glory,  and  before  it  every  object  that  was  ever 
loved  disappears,  as  the  stars  are  hid  by  the  beams  of  the  sun. 
But  these  seasons  are  too  short,  and  cannot  be  mentioned  as  the 
habitual  condition  of  a  believer.  Still  in  the  darkest  hour,  the  be- 
liever has  heavenly  affections,  and  may  be  said  to  live,  while  the 
unbeliever,  in  his  happiest  hours,  is  the  prey  of  spiritual  death. 

3.  Piety  cultivates  a  better  conscience  than  can  be  found  in  the 
carnally  minded.  The  Christian  is  the  only  man  who  considers 
conscience  his  friend,  who  esteems  it  a  blessing  that  God  has 
placed  this  monitor  in  his  bosom,  and  who  expects  with  pleasure 
its  admonitions.  He  aims  to  have  his  conscience  enlightened, 
takes  proper  pains  to  acquaint  himself  with  duty,  treasures  up  the 
truth,  and  with  a  moral  sense  thus  illuminated,  guides  himself  by 
its  dictates.  It  becomes  his  habit  to  submit  every  moral  act  to 
the  decisions  of  this  internal  court.  Thus  preserving  a  pure  con- 
science, it  often  approves  of  his  deeds,  and  when  polluted  is  sprin- 
I 


TRUE   PIETY   PEACEFULLY   PLEASANT.  477 

kled  again  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God.  By  such  a 
course,  this  power  of  the  soul  is  honored  and.  improved,  till  the 
man  carries  the  law  with  him,  and  is  enabled,  in  a  good  degree, 
to  square  his  life  by  its  precepts.  You  will  perceive  that  it  is  my 
aim  to  describe  the  thing  as  it  should  be.  Too  often,  however, 
the  good  man  does  not  cultivate  that  tenderness  of  conscience, 
which  his  comfort  requires  should  exist.  It  was  so  polluted  be- 
fore his  conversion,  and  has  even  now  so  little  light,  that  it  may 
almost  be  said  the  light  that  is  in  him  is  darkness.  The  Christian, 
however,  has  one  happy  resort.  When  he  has  defiled  his  con- 
science, he  applies  afresh  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  is  forgiven, 
and  has  peace  of  conscience.  Probably  Christians  greatly  differ 
in  this  respect,  and  no  doubt  they  differ  as  widely  in  this  aggre- 
gate of  their  joy.  Other  things  being  equal,  he  is  far  the  happiest 
man  who  has  the  purest  conscience,  who  most  promptly  applies 
for  its  decision,  and  most  cheerfully  obeys  its  dictates.  Still,  in 
every  good  man,  conscience  is  more  or  less  honored  and  culti- 
vated, while  in  the  opposite  character,  it  is  hated  and  neglected, 
as  heaven's  unwelcome  sentinel. 

4.  A  life  of  piety  promotes  happiness.  To  be  spiritually  minded 
is  life  and  peace.  This  is  a  point  that  will  be  generally  conceded. 
It  is  said,* however,  that  there  are  some  whom  religion  has  made 
unhappy.  They  are  cut  off  from  the  pleasures  of  sense,  while 
their  hopes  of  glory,  and  their  enjoyment  of  God  are  too  inoperat- 
ive to  render  them  happy.  That  in  many  cases  this  appears  to  be 
true,  there  can  be  no  doubt  j  but  there  can  be  as  little  doubt  that 
the  failure  is  chargeable,  not  to  religion,  but  to  its  absence.  Great 
peace  have  they  that  love  thy  law,  and  nothing  shall  offend  them. 
Said  our  Lord  to  his  disciples,  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you  ;  my  peace 
I  give  unto  you."  And  of  all  believers  it  is  said,  that  they  have 
peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now  it  would  be 
infidelity  to  doubt  whether  God  will  fulfil  his  promises.  In  Christ 
they  are  all  yea  and  amen. 

In  these  doubtful  cases,  then,  we  are  to*  fear,  either  that  the 
heart  is  not  yet  renewed,  or  that  sin  is  still  indulged,  for  which 
God  in  righteousness  withholds  his  comforts. 

There  is  opened  before  the  believer  a  vast  resource  of  comfort. 
He  has  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom  having 
not  seen  we  love,  and  in  whom  though  now  we  see  him  not,  yet, 
believing  we  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  He 
has  fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  He 
finds  a  friend  and  a  brother  in  every  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 


478  TRUE   PIETY   PEACEFULLY    PLEASANT. 

He  enjoys  the  ministry  of  angels.  He  is  conscious  of  penitence, 
and  has  ordinarily  a  hope  of  forgiveness.  He  is  permitted  through 
rich  grace  to  cast  an  eye  forward  toward  heaven  as  his  everlasting 
home.  He  may  have  many  trials  in  the  present  life  ;  but  the  pro- 
mise is, — and  on  this  promise  he  lives, — that  all  things  shall  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God.  Darkness  may  endure 
for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning.  He  will  be  likely  to 
have  his  enemies,  but  no  weapon  formed  against  him  shall  prosper. 
He  will  be  tempted,  but  with  every  temptation  God  will  make  a 
way  of  escape.  In  a  little  wrath  God  may  hide  his  face  from  him 
for  a  moment,  but  with  everlasting  kindness  will  he  have  mercy 
upon  him.  His  shoes  shall  be  iron  and  brass,  and  as  his  day  is  so 
shall  his  strength  be.  God  will  be  with  him  in  six  troubles,  and 
in  seven  he  will  not  forsake  him.  This  charter  reads,  "  When 
thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  through 
the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee  ;  when  thou  walkest  through 
the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burnt — neither  shall  the  flames  kindle 
upon  thee.  For  he  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over  thee,  to 
keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways :  they  shall  bear  thee  up  in  their  hands, 
lest  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone."  "  Therefore  let  no  man 
glory  in  men,  for  all  things  are  yours,  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come  ;  all  are  yours,  and  ye  are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's." 
The  promise  and  the  persuasion  is,  that  "  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor 
angels  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things 
to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature  shall  be 
able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord." 

The  covenant  that  binds  him  to  his  Lord  is  an  everlasting  cove- 
nant, well  ordered  in  all  things,  and  sure.  Hence,  while  he  is  as- 
sured that  to  live  is  Christ,  he  is  equally  confident  that  to  die  would 
be  gain.  What  he  shall  be  it  does  not  yet  appear.  He  has  about 
him  a  body  of  sin  and  death,  has  many  fears  that  he  may  perish  at 
last,  and  often,  perhaps,  refuses  the  comforts  offered  him,  because 
his  prospects  of  heaven  are  so  clouded  that  he  dares  not  to  rejoice. 
Could  he  know  that  when  the  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  is 
dissolved,  he  has  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens,  this  would  fill  up  the  catalogue  of  his  com- 
forts. As  things  are,  he  would  not  quit  his  hold  of  heaven  for  a 
thousand  worlds.  And  if  he  must  wade  them  in  his  own  tears,  if 
to  save  his  soul  he  must  let  every  creature  comfort  go,  still  the 
hope  of  heaven  can  make  amends. 


TRUE    PIETY   PEACEFULLY    PLEASANT.  4/79 

If,  in  this  shaded  description  of  the  good  man,  any  of  you  sup- 
pose that  I  have  made  him,  and  left  him  unhappy,  then  is  there  a 
doubt  whether  you  are  of  the  character  I  have  described.  In  the 
midst  of  his  tears  the  good  man  is  happy.  He  weeps  because  he 
is  a  sinner,  and  because  he  hopes  he  is  forgiven.  He  is  troubled 
on  every  side,  but  not  distressed ;  he  is  perplexed,  but  not  in  de- 
spair ;  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken ;  cast  down,  but  not  destroy- 
ed. His  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a  moment,  and  will  work  out 
for  him  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Thus, 
to  be  spiritually  minded,  is  life  and  peace.  I  close  with  one 

REMARK. 

If  thus  abundant  are  the  joys  of  the  spiritually  minded  in  this 
life,  how  unspeakable  must  be  the  glory  of  the  life  to  come.  The 
Christian,  when  he  escapes  from  this  dark  world,  will  leave  behind 
him  this  dying  body.  It  is  now  a  clog  and  a  vexation  to  his  hea- 
venly mind.  When  the  spirit  may  be  willing,  the  flesh  is  weak. 
But  the  long  expected  moment  arrives  soon,  when  this  mortal  shall 
put  on  immortality,  and  death  be  swallowed  up  in  victory.  This 
weary  head,  as  said  the  dying  Harriet,*  will  soon  rest  sweetly  on 
the  bosom  of  Jesus.  We  read,  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither 
thirst  any  more.  The  inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  world  shall  no 
more  say  they  are  sick.  The  weary  are  to  be  at  rest.  Every  tear 
shall  be  dry. 

The  disembodied  mind  will  be  greatly  enlightened.  There  will 
not  hang  over  it  those  dark  mists  that  now  becloud  every  prospect. 
The  ways  of  God  will  be  illuminated,  and  the  wisdom  of  all  his 
purposes  appear.  No  more  shall  it  be  said  that  clouds  and  dark- 
ness are  round  about  him,  or  be  doubted  whether  righteousness 
and  judgment  are  the  habitations  of  his  throne.  The  believer  will 
no  longer  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  face  to  face.  He  will 
then  be  satisfied,  having  awaked  from  death  in  the  likeness  of  his 
Redeemer. 

Which  leads  me  to  say  farther,  he  will  be  free  from  sin.  He 
will  no  longer  tire  under  the  body  of  this  death.  I  shall  be  like  him, 
said  one  of  his  holy  family,  for  I  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  What  un- 
utterable joy  must  this  thought  create.  There  can  be  no  hope 
so  rich  as  that  the  day  is  coming  when  I  shall  no  more  offend  my 
Savior  by  sin,  when  my  conscience  will  be  no  more  polluted,  and 
my  peace  destroyed  by  disobedience.  One  might  wish  all  the 

*  Harriet  Newell. 


480  TRUE    PIETY    PEACEFULLY    PLEASANT. 

years  annihilated  that  separate  him  from  that  happy  hour.  How 
does  the  animated  soul  leap  forward  to  embrace  the  pleasures  of 
that  lovely  moment.  Yes,  my  brother,  you  may  hope  that  one 
day  sin  will  no  more  have  dominion  over  you.  If  it  seems  a  bles- 
sing too  rich  for  such  a  worm  as  you,  then  you  have  only  to  adore 
the  grace  that  issued  this  doom.  Just  so  kind  are  the  designs  of 
God.  And  if  his  grace  does  not  draw  forth  our  warmest  gratitude 
the  very  stones  of  the  street  will  cry  out. 

Here  when  the  Christian  quits  the  body  he  will  leave  behind 
him  all  his  fears.  The  fear  that  he  may  yet  perish  sometimes  fills 
him  with  agony.  He  would  give  a  world  to  have  this  one  ques- 
tion settled.  Conceive,  brethren,  how  you  must  feel  if  one  day 
you  shall  find  yourselves  in  heaven.  You  will  look  back,  and  the 
danger  is  all  over.  It  was  night  about  you,  but  the  true  light  has 
come.  You  passed  close  by  the  margin  of  the  pit,  but  God  cover- 
ed it  with  his  hand.  You  was  condemned,  but  the  Lord  Jesus 
gave  his  life  for  your  ransom.  You  grieved  the  Spirit,  but  he  did 
not  utterly  forsake  you.  You  became  cold,  and  he  revived  you  ; 
you  wandered,  and  he  brought  you  back  with  stripes.  Of  all  the 
wonders  of  heaven,  you  will  say,  this  is  the  greatest,  That  I  am 
here.  They  went  to  perdition  from  my  neighborhood,  some  of  my 
own  mother's  children  have  perished,  and  I  in  heaven.  And  why, 
Lord  Jesus,  why  me.  Why  was  I  pressed  on  to  this  abode  of  joy, 
while  my  own  brother  is  lost,  and  my  father  is  lost,  and  she  that 
bear  me,  and  bent  over  me  and  heard  my  dying  lips,  have  missed 
the  way,  and  can  never  mingle  their  song  with  mine.  Blessed 
Jesus,  thou  hast  been  my  deliverer. 


VALUABLE    BOOKS, 

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CHARLOTTE   ELIZABETH'S   WORKS,  Uniform  Edition,  12  vols. 

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OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS. 

We  have  received  numerous  commendatory  notices  of  our  edition  of  Charlotte 
Elizabeth's  Works,  from  the  religious  papers  of  all  denominations  of  Christians  in 
this  country,  and  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  supplied  themselves  with 
her  books,  we  insert  here  a  few  which  are  believed  to  be  a  fair  specimen  of  the  opi- 
nions of  the  press.  . 

From  the  Morning  News. 

WORKS  OF  CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH. — Mrs.  Charlotte  Elizabeth  Tonna  is  one 
of  the  most  gifted,  popular,  and  truly  instructive  writers  of  the  present  day.  In 
clearness  of  thought,  variety  of  topics,  richness  of  imagery,  and  elegance  of  ex- 
pression, it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say,  that  she  is  the  rival  of  Hannah  More,  or 
to  predict  that  her  works  will  be  as  extensively  and  profitably  read,  as  those  of  the 
most  delightful  female  writer  of  the  last  generation.  All  her  writings  are  pervaded 
by  justness  t.nd  purity  of  sentiment,  and  the  highest  reverence  for  morality  and  re- 
ligion ;  and  may  safely  be  commended  as  of  the  highest  interest  and  value  to  every 
family  in  the  land. 

From  the  Religious  Spectator. 

If  Charlotte  Elizabeth  were  not  one  of  the  most  attractive  and  useful  writers  of 
the  age,  we  might  perhaps  be  ready  to  say  that  she  was  in  danger  of  surfeiting  the 
public  appetite,  by  her  numerous  productions;  but  as  it  is,  we  are  constrained  to 
say  the  oftener  she  shows  .herself  as  an  author  the  better.  Her  works  never  tire  j 
and  we  are  never  even  in  doubt  in  respect  to  their  useful  tendency. 

From  the  Albany  Argus. 

Charlotte  Elizabeth's  works  have  become  so  universally  known,  and  are  so  highly 
and  deservedly  appreciated  in  this  country,  that  it  has  become  almost  superfluous 
to  mention  them.  We  doubt  exceedingly  whether  there  has  been  any  female  writer 
since  Mrs.  Hannah  Moore,  whose  works  are  likely  to  be  so  extensively  and  so  pro- 
fitably read  as  hers.  She  thinks  deeply  and  accurately,  is  a  great  analyst  of  the 
human  heart,  and  withal  clothes  her  thoughts  in  most  appropriate  and  eloquent 
language. 

From  the  Journal  of  Commerce. 

These  productions  constitute  a  bright  relief  to  the  bad  and  corrupting  literature 
of  which  our  age  is  so  prolific,  full  of  practical  instruction,  illustrative  of  the  beauty 
of  Protestant  Christianity,  and  not  the  less  abounding  in  entertaining  description 
and  narrative. 


CATALOGUE    OF    BOOKS. 

CHARLOTTE    ELIZABETH'S    WORKS 

CtS.  CtS. 

Personal  Recollections,  1  vol.  12mo.,    50  J  Osric.  a  Missionary  Tale,  38 

Helen  Fleetwood,                                   50  \  The  Convent  Bell,  a  Tale,  38 

T-J-li-T.? C/i  <  4Ni  £.«...  -.    ~T  4  1 T"» j.  TV/?.,™.        or* 


Judah's  Lion,  50 

Judaea  Capta,  50 

The  Siege  of  Deny,  50 

Letters  from  Ireland,  50 

The  Rockite,  50 

Floral  Biography,  50 

Principalities  and  Powers,  50 

English.  Martyrs,  50 

The  Wrongs  of  Women,  50 
The  Church  Visible  in  all  Ages,  18mo.,  50 

Passing  Thoughts,  38 

Falsehood  and"  Truth,  38 


Glimpses  of  the  Past,  or  the  Museum,  38 

Philip  and  his  Garden,  38 

The  Flower  of  Innocence,  38 

The  Simple  Flower,  38 

Alice  Benclen,  and  other  Tales,  38 

Female  Martyrs,  38 

Tales  and  Illustrations,  38 

Dressmakers  and  Milliners,  25 

The  Forsaken  Home,  25 

The  Little  Pin- Headers,  25 

The  Lace  Runners,  25 

Letter  Writing,  25 


Conformity,  38  j  Back-Biting,  25 

Izram,  a  Mexican  Tale,  38  i  Promising  and  Performing,  25 


THE  PEEP  OF  DAY,  or  a  seriesof  the  earliest  religious  Instruction,  the 
Infant  Mind  is  capable  of  receiving,  with  verses  illustrative  of  the  sub- 
jects, 1  vol.  18mo.  with  engravings,  $0  50 

LINE  UPON  LINE,  by  the  author  of"  Peep  of  Day,"  a  second  series,  50 

PRECEPT  UPON  PRECEPT,  by  the  author  of  "  Peep  of  Day,"  etc.,  a 

third  series,  50 

This  is  probably  the  best  and  most  popular  series  of  Juvenile  Books  ever  pub- 
lished. The  publishers  refer  with  the  most  entire  confidence  to  all  parents  and 
teachers  who  have  introduced  these  books  into  their  families  or  schools,  who  will 
testify  as  to  the  useful  and  correct  religious  instruction  which  they  contain. 


D'AUBIGNE'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  GREAT  REFORMATION, 
abridged  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Dalton,  1  vol.  I8mo.  447  pages. 
Price,  $0  50 

Probably  no  book  of  modern  date  has  obtained  such  a  wide-spread  popularity,  and 
been  so  extensively  read  as  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Great  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  &c.  Engrossing  and  enduring  as  must 
be  the  interest  connected  with  the  details  of  the  historical  incident  of  the  Great 
Reformation,  the  author  of  this  work  has  invested  them  with  all  the  charm  and 
fascination  of  romance. 

The  Abridgment  retains  most  of  the  attractions  of  the  larger  work,  and  brings 
it  within  the  means,  as  to  time  and  expense,  of  a  still  larger  body  of  readers.  Of 
the  faithfulness  with  which  this  abridgment  has  been  made,  the  following  testimo- 
nial from  the  New  York  Observer  of  Oct.  21,  is  abundant  and  satisfactory  evidence. 
It  is  from  the  pen  of  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  New  York,  whose  opinions  on 
such  subjects  are  entitled  to  universal  confidence. 

"  I  have  read  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dalton's  Abridgment  of  D'Aubigne's  History,  as  re- 
printed by  Mr.Taylor,  and  have  fully  compared  it  with  Mr.  Carter's  edition  of  the 
original  work.  1  am  free  to  say  that  I  think  the  abridgment  is  made  with  great 
fidelity  and  sound  judgment-  It  consists  almost  wholly  of  the  author's  own  words, 
and  embraces  those  parts  which  are  of  the  mo?t  prominent  interest.  Doubtless 
those  who  can  command  the  time  will  prefer  to  read  the  original  work ;  but  those 
who  wish  to  have  the  substance  of  the  work  in  less  compass,  will  here  find  it  faith- 
fully condensed  by  one  who  entered  into  the  true  spirit  of  D'Aubigne.  Both  edi- 
tions, I  believe  calculated  to  be  eminently  useful,  and  I  wish  to  both  the  widest 
circulation." 

This  work  is  printed  on  good  type,  contains  447  pages,  and  is  sold  at  the  exceed- 
ingly low  price  of  50  cents." 


CATALOGUE    OF    BOOKS. 

From  the  American  Protestant. 

D'AUBIGNE'S    HISTORY    OF    THE     REFORMATION.— Cheap    edition. 

Abridged  by  the  REV.  EDWARD  DALTON.     Second  edition. 

This  edition  of  D'Aubigne,  abridged  by  a  skilful  hand,  has  received  the  commen- 
dations of  the  press,  and  of  men  of  talent,  for  the  rare  merit  it  presents  in  the  pre- 
sent form.  It  is  admirably  adapted  for  Sunday  School  and  Common  School  Libra- 
ries, and  for  the  family.  None  of  the  important  facts  of  the  original  history  are 
omitted,  or  even  mutilated;  while  all  that  is  extraneous  and  common-place,  has 
been  dropped.  It  is  useless  to  talk  about  the  advantage  a  child  will  reap  from  the 
reading  of  the  full  edition  ;  the  same  argument  should  hold  good  for  all  purposes, 
and  we  would  have  to  banish  booKs  wholly  from  our  School  Libraries — for,  of  the 
historical  portion  of  tho=e  Libraries,  hardly  a  single  volume  can  be  found,  that  is 
not  an  abridgment  of  a  more  voluminous  work  Children  must  have  the  facts,  and 
the  stirring  interest  of  unbroken  narrative;  their  age,  and  their  unripe  minds,  im- 
peratively demand  them,  and  we  might  as  well  forbid  them  to  study  Astronomy  ex- 
cept through  the  barren  formulas  of  La  Place,  as  to  forbid  them  to  read  history  ex- 
cept in  the  philosophic  voluminousness  of  original  productions. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS,  and  other  Fragments  from  the  study 
of  a  Pastor,  by  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  following  notice  of  Spring's  Fragments  is  extracted  from  the  New  York 
Commercial  Advertiser. 

The  first  piece,  entitled  the  "  Church  in  the  Wilderness,"  is  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful sketches  in  our  language.  It  is  in  every  respect  a  finished  production — a  pic- 
ture complete  in  all  its  parts,  that  for  a  time  captivates  the  affections,  enchains  the 
powers  of  the  mind,  and  fills  the  soul  with  the  most  exalted  conceptions.  The 
Church  is  represented,  under  the  various  circumstances  of  her  earthly  allotment, 
leaning  on  the  arm  of  her  Beloved,  and  deriving  all  her  strength  from  this  unfailing 
source.  The  chastened  but  glowing  fancy,  elegance  of  diction,  and  purity  of  thought, 
conspire  to  give  beauty  to  the  image,  and  make  us  dwell  upon  it  with  delight. 

The  other  pieces  in  the  collection  are  scarcely  of  inferior  merit.  "  The  Inquir- 
ing Meeting"  portrays  with  great  vividness  some  of  the  phases  which  the  human 
heart  exhibits,  when  under  the  influence  of  religious  excitement.  The  "  Letter  to 
a  Young  Clergyman"  abounds  in  instructions  of  inestimable  value.  It  may  per- 
haps be  doubted  whether  the  author  attaches  sufficient  importance  to  pastoral  visit- 
ation. "  The  Panorama"  is  an  affecting  delineation  of  the  employment  of  men  as 
they  usually  appear  on  the  stage  of  active  life.  "  The  Useful  Christian"  contains 
sound  practical  suggestions  for  informing  the  mind,  icgulating  the  heart,  and  inspir- 
ing energy  of  action. 

MEMOIRS   OF  MRS.   SARAH   LOUISA  TAYLOR,  by  REV.  LOT 

JONES,  A.M.     Fifth  edition,  ISmo.,  $050 

From  the  Christian  Mirror. 

MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  SARAH  LOUISA  TAYLOR:  or  an  Illustration  of  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  awakening,  renewing,  and  sanctifying  the  heart.  Bv 
LOT  JONES,  A.  M. 

Memoirs  of  individuals  have  become  so  common,  that  not  a  few  may  be  ready  to 
ask,  Why  publish  another  ?  We  have  no  fears  that  the  above  question  will  be  asked 
by  any  one  after  reading  this  volume.  If  he  does  not  feel  u  reproved,  corrected,  or 
instructed  in  righteousness,"  it  will  be  because  he  has  made  pre-eminent  attain- 
ments in  scriptural  knowledge,  and  holy,  useful  living;  or  else  because  his  con- 
science has  lost  its  susceptibility.  In  Mrs.  Taylor  religion  appears  with  dignity  as 
well  as  grace,  in  power  as  well  as  beauty.  Hers  was  the  faith  which  "works  by 
love,  purifies  the  heart,  and  overcomes  the  world."  Its  fruits  were  choice  and  abun- 
dant. Nor  were  her  virtues  cancelled,  or  their  influence  more  than  destroyed  by 
gross  defects  and  blemishes.  She  had  uncommon  symmetry  and  harmony  Of  char- 


CATALOGUE    OF   BOOKS. 

acter.  With  a  uniform  and  controlling  desire  to  do  good,  she  never  lacked  the 
means  and  opportunity  ,  and  did  much,  in  the  best  and  highest  sense  of  the  expres- 
sion. She  won  not  a  few  to  righteousness.  Her  religion  was  a  religion  of  diligence 
and  energy,  rendering  her  "  steadfast,  immovable,  always  abounding  in  the  Work  of 
the  Lord ;"  and  her  labor  was  "  not  in  vain." 

We  see  in  Mrs.  Taylor  the  same  religion,  in  its  essential  elements,  and  in  its  more 
important  developments,  which  glowed  in  and  beamed  forth  from  the  "  great  cloud 
of  witnesses  5" — the  same  faith,  the  same  humility,  the  same  dependence  on  atoning 
blood,  the  same  susceptibility  to  the  constraining  influence  of  Christ's  love  :  "  We 
thus  judge,  that  if  Christ  died  for  all,  then  all  were  dead ;  and  that  he  died  for  all 
that  they  who  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him  who 
died  for  them."  We  see  deep  religious  experience,  but  no  extravagance — strong 
feelings,  but  no  fanaticism — absorbing  devotion,  but  no  cant — firmness  of  principle, 
but  no  party  bigotry.  We  have  here,  not  only  holiness  in  its  principle,  but  the 
beauty  of  holiness  adorning  and  perfecting  the  character. 

Mr.  Jones  was  greatly  favored  in  the  subject  of  his  narrative  ;  and  he  has  wrought 
up  his  materials  with  great  skill  and  judgment.  Nothing  has  been  inserted,  which 
would  have  been  better  omitted ;  and  nothing  appears  to  be  wanting,  which  was 
necessary  to  a  just  appreciation  of  her  character. 

We  unhesitatingly  commend  this  Memoir  to  all  females,  in  all  ranks  of  society. 
The  most  refined  and  best  educated  will  rise  from  its  perusal,  improved  in  literary 
taste,  intellectual  expansion,  and  correct  thinking :  and  the  less  favored  will  learn 
from  it  what  it  is  in  their  power  to  become  by  diligence,  by  prayer,  by  studying  the 
Scriptures,  by  a  whole-hearted  devotedness  to  the  duties  which  they  owe  to  God 
and  their  fellow-men. 

From  the  Boston  Recorder. 

MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  SARAH  LOUISA  TAYLOR:  or  an  Illustration  of  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  awakening,  renewing,  and  sanctifying  the  heart  By 
LOT  JONES,  A.  M. 

It  is  not  possible  to  do  justice  to  this  captivating  and  instructive  volume  within 
the  compass  of  the  few  lines  to  which  our  notice  must  be  confined.  And  perhaps 
it  is  best  to  desist  altogether  from  an  attempt  to  convey  a  correct  impression  of  it  to 
our  readers ;  for  it  must  be  confessed  that  our  own  emotions  on  the  perusal  of  it  are 
too  strong  to  permit  the  exercise  of  the  most  cool  and  deliberate  judgment  as  to  its 
intrinsic  merits.  To  follow  a  lovely  youth  through  the  scenes  of  childhood  and  ri- 
pening years ;  to  mark  the  various  traits  of  intellectual  and  moral  character,  as  they 
are  developed  in  the  relations  of  the  child,  the  sister,  the  friend,  the  wife,  the  mo- 
ther, the  teacher  and  the  disciple  of  Jesus  :  and  then  to  group  the  whole,  and  con- 
template the  triumphs  of  faith  over  natural  affection,  and  the  heart's  corruptions, 
and  the  power  of  death  itself;  cannot  fail  to  excite  very  strong  emotion  in  any  bo- 
som not  petrified,  even  though  the  execution  of  the  work  were  marked  with  many 
imperfections.  But  Mr.  Jones  has  not  failed  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  task  he  has 
assumed.  The  simplicity  and  clearness  of  his  delineations ;  the  richness  and  ful- 
ness of  evangelical  sentiment  diffused  through  the  whole,  and  arising  naturally  from 
his  subject,  the  dignified  tenderness  of  style,  and  the  accurate  discrimination  made 
between  spurious  and  genuine  religion  in  his  incidental  remarks,  show  him  to  be  a 
workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  and  leave  an  impress  on  the  volume  that 
will  render  it  very  precious  to  every  evangelical  reader  Any  Christian  who  de- 
sires above  all  things  to  grow  in  grace,  to  learn  the  nature  of  the  Christian  conflict, 
and  to  use  successfully  the  weapons  that  shall  give  him  the  victory  over  his  spirit- 
ual enemies  ;  or,  in  one  word,  to  learn  "  the  mind  of  the  Spirit"  on  these  points, 
will  do  well  to  study  this  volume. 

From  the  Episcopal  Sunday  School  Visitor. 

Sometimes  the  usefulness  of  religious  biography  is  lessened  by  a  redundancy  of 
ornament  in  the  style,  by  too  many  digressions,  which  are  continually  breaking  into 
the  interest  which  the  reader  feels  in  the  narrative,  and  driving  away  the  profitable 
reflections  which  it  suggests  to  the  mind. 

It  is  very  seldom  that  we  meet  with  a  book  so  entirely  free  from  blemishes  of 


CATALOGUE    OF    BOOKS.  » 

this  kind,  as  the  one  before  us.  It  is  the  simple  portrait  of  an  amiable,  enlightened, 
and  devotedly  pious  Christian,  drawn  by  a  most  judicious  and  faithful  hand. 

The  young  Christian  who  is  just  commencing  his  course,  and  whose  temptations 
and  trials  are  sometimes  leading  him  to  despondency,  will  read  this  book  with 
thankfulness;  and  those  who  are  yet  strangers  to  vital  religion  may  be  induced, 
from  this  lovely  instance  of  its  powerful  effects  in  sustaining  the  soul,  under  the 
heaviest  afflictions  of  life,  and  in  the  hour  of  sickness  and  death,  to  seek  for  them- 
selves an  interest  in  the  Lord  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Mrs.  Taylor  evidently  possessed  a  fine  and  cultivated  mind.  Of  this  the  beauti- 
ful fragments  of  poetry  which  are  given  in  the  course  of  the  book,  and  the  extracts 
from  her  correspondence,  are  evidence.  Had  those  talents  been  cultivated  for  the 
world  and  its  approbation,  she  might,  perhaps,  have  attained  all  that  this  world  can 
give— fame — applause — and  celebrity.  But  what  would  they  avail  her  now  ?  She 
has  chosen  the  better  part,  which  cannot  be  taken  from  her. 

It  would  be  injustice  to  the  publishers  not  to  notice  the  beautiful  manner  in  which 
the  work  has  been  executed.  The  paper  and  type  are  excellent,  and  the  engravings 
good  :  but  still  the  matter  of  the  book  is  its  main  recommendation. 

From  the  Episcopal  Recorder. 

This  is  a  new  work  just  issued  from  the  press,  and  well  worthy  the  attention  of 
Christians.  It  describes,  mainly  from  her  own  writings,  the  character  of  a  Chris- 
tian, whose  experience  of  the  power  of  sin  and  of  the  power  of  grace,  was  deeper 
than  is  usual,  and  whose  example  of  usefulness  to  others  gives  beautiful  evidence 
of  the  reality  of  her  own  principles  of  character.  We  have  been  much  interested 
in  looking  over  this  volume,  and  rejoice  in  recommending  it  to  our  readers.  They 
will  find  it  an  uncommonly  interesting  and  instructive  biography,  worthy  of  its  ex- 
cellent author,  arid  adapted  to  be  eminently  useful  to  themselves. 

From  the  Christian  Intelligencer. 

This  is  a  well-written  biography  of  an  amiable  and  devoted  Christian,  who  pleas- 
antly arid  beautifully  exhibited  the  Christian  character  in  the  different  relations  of 
life  and  in  her  early  death.  The  reader  will  be  pleased  with  the  spirit  and  sentiments 
of  her  early  correspondence  introduced  and  scattered  throughout  the  volume.  It  is 
calculated  to  be  useful  and  edifying,  and  we  freely  recommend  it  to  our  readers.  It 
is  published  in  a  beautiful  style. 

From  the  Christian  Watchman. 

The  interesting  subject  of  this  memoir  was  born  at  East  Haddam,  Conn.,  Janua- 
ry 18,  1809,  and  died  August  2,  1836.  Books  of  this  description  are  sure  to  obtain 
readers,  and  therefore  we  sincerely  wish  they  always  combined  as  much  solid  in- 
struction with  affecting  and  interesting  narrative,  as  we  find  in  this  volume.  "  He 
that  winneth  souls  is  wise."  Every  endeavor,  therefore,  to  secure  so  important  an 
object,  which  is  not  at  variance  with  the  principles  and  the  spirit  of  revelation,  is 
wise  also.  As  the  author  fervently  prays,  so  we  sincerely  hope  this  work  "  may 
subserve  the  interests  of  our  holy  religion,  and  be  the  means  of  leading  many  to  the 
fountain  of  eternal  life." 

It  is  a  lamentable  fact,  but  one  we  suppose  no  one  will  venture  to  deny,  that  there 
are  persons  who,  though  they  cannot  be  prevailed  upon  to  read  a  few  pages  of  a 
book  of  this  kind,  would  need  no  persuasion  to  sit  down  and  peruse  any  of  Bul- 
wer's  novels,  from  the  preface  to  the  finis,  without  suffering  their  attention  to  be 
interrupted.  A  person  can  hardly  read  this  volume  without  feeling  that,  for  the 
time  at  least,  he  is  a  wiser  and  a  better  man.  The  author  has  produced  a  book 
alike  creditable  to  the  powers  of  his  mind  and  to  the  devotional  feelings  of  his 
heart;  and  which,  in  our  opinion,  justly  entitles  him  to  the  thanks  of  the  religious 
public,  among  whom  we  sincerely  hope  it  will  obtain  an  extensive  circulation  and 
an  attentive  perusal. 

From  the  New  York  Evangelist. 

In  the  memoir  of  Mrs.  Taylor,  the  reader  will  see  chiefly  Cv  an  illustration  of  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  awakening,  renewing,  and  sanctifying  the  heart."  He 


CATALOGUE    OF   BOOKS. 

will  see  an  humble  female,  born  in  Connecticut,  and  reared  under  the  genial  influ- 
ence of  that  blessed  atmosphere  so  prevalent  in  the  land  of  the  Pilgrims,  becoming 
first  a  teacher  of  youth  in  her  native  state,  then  in  New  York  city.  With  a  mind 
well  cultivated  and  of  a  respectable  order  of  talent,  with  a  heart  formed  for  friend- 
ship, and  keenly  alive  to  the  purest  and  tendered  sensibilities ;  she  was  such  a  one 
as  almost  any  one  would  wish  their  daughters  to  be.  Her  piety  was  of  a  high  order 
even  from  the  first,  and  no  wonder;  she  had  been  an  object  of  the  prayers  and  ex- 
hortations of  Harlan  Page.  The  closing  scenes  exhibit,  in  no  small  degree,  the  tri- 
umphs of  Christian  faith.  The  biographer  has  done  his  work  well,  interweaving, 
page  by  page,  in  an  easy,  natural  manner,  delightful  lessons  from  real  life. 

The  book  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  printer's  art,  and  shows  also,  in  the  por- 
trait prefixed  and  the  vignette  title-page,  the  engraver's  skill.  The  book  will  be  read, 
and  seldom,  we  hope,  without  profit. 

From  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal. 

This  memoir  is  an  illustration  of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  awakening,  re- 
newing and  sanctifying  the  heart.  Mrs.  Taylor  was  in  many  respects  an  extraor- 
dinary woman  ;  and  her  biographer  has  performed  his  task  in  a  style  of  great  excel- 
lence. The  narrative  of  her  conviction  and  contrition,  which  is  here  given,  is  deeply 
affecting  and  instructive,  by  reason  of  its  protracted  character,  as  well  as  the  circum- 
stances which  kept  her  so  long  without  the  ''joy  in  believing,"  which  she  after- 
wards found  to  have  been  her  privilege.  That  her's  was  the  true  "  godly  sorrow 
•which  worketh  repentance  unto  salvation,"  no  one  can  doubt;  and  yet  she  was  for 
many  years,  the  subject  of  its  anguish  and  mental  agony,  before  she  received  the 
"spirit  of  adoption,"  or  had  the  ''witnesses  in  herself"  of  which  the  apostle  speaks. 
Subsequently,  her  enlightened  piety,  her  growth  in  grace,  and  her  experience  of  the 
fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  Gospel  of  peace,  made  her  a  "  burning  and  a  shining 
light."  In  these  days  of  degeneracy,  her  memoir  is  a  most  timely  publication, 
showing,  as  it  does,  an  eminent  example  of  Christian  experience  and  practice,  un- 
sophisticated by  any  of  the  dogmas  of  scholastic  divinity. 

Mrs.  Taylor  was  an  humble,  sincere,  fervent,  and  consistent  Christian,  in  sickness 
'and  in  health,  living  and  dying,  exemplifying  the  truth,  power,  and  preciousness  of 
our  holy  religion.  Intellectually,  she  was  a  woman  of  high  order;  and  her  early 
and  devoted  piety,  her  patience  and  resignation  in  affliction,  her  victory  over  death, 
all  demonstrate  that  she  was  a  witness  of  the  washing  and  regeneration,  and  the 
renewal  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Would  that  our  young  ladies  would  read  her  memoir,  imbibe  her  spiritj  share  her 
enjoyments,  and  participate  in  her  blessedness  here  and  hereafter. 


CATALOGUE    OF    BOOKS. 

THEOPNEUSTY,  or  the  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  S. 
R.  L.  Gaussen,  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  new  Theological  School  of 
Geneva,  Switzerland.  Third  American,  from  the  second  French  edition, 

revised  and  enlarged  by  the  author.     Translated  by  the  Rev.  Edward 

Norris  Kirk,  1  vol.  12mo., $0  75 

AIDS  TO  PREACHING  AND   HEARING,  by  Rev.  Thos.  H.  Skinner, 

D.  D.,  1  vol.  12mo.        -        -        -        -        -        -      .  -        -        -        -       1  00 

MEMOIR  OF  THE  LATE  REV.  WM.  NEVINS,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  12mo.,         75 
LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM,  by  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.,  President 

of  the  New  York  Theological  Seminary,  12mo.,    -  75 

JACOB  WRESTLING  WITH  THE  ANGEL,  and   SOLOMON  THE 

SHULAMITE,  by  Krummacher,  author  of  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  1  vol. 

12mo., 75 

CORNELIUS  THE  CENTURIAN,  by  Krummacher,  l*vol.  12mo.,         -          75 
SERMONS  ON  REVIVALS,  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  with  an  Introduction 

by  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  iSmo., 38 

A  VOICE  FROM  ANTIQUITY,  to  the  Men  of  the  Nineteenth  Century; 

or,  Read  the  Book.     By  J.  H.  Merle  D'Aubigne,  author  of  the  "  History 

of  the  Reformation  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,"  1  vol  ISmo.,         -        -          25 
THE  VOICE  OF  THE  CHURCH  ONE,  Under  all  the  Successive  Forms 

of  Christianity;  by  J.  H.  Merle  D'Aubigne,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  18mo.,  -        -          25 
PUSEYISM  EXAMINED,  by  J.  H  Merle  D'Aubigne,  D.  D  ;  with  an  In- 
troductory Notice  of  the  Author,  by  Robert  Baird,  1  vol.  ISmo.  25 
THE  CONFESSION  OF  CHRIST,  by  J.  H.  Merle  A'Aubigne,  D.  D.,  1 

vol.  18mo.,     -        -        -        -.••'-        -        -        -        -        -        -        -          25 

FAITH  AND  KNOWLEDGE,  by  J.  A.  Merle  D'Aubigne,  D.  D.,  1  vol. 

18mo.,    - .v  y1*...'      25 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS,  and  other  Fragments,  from 
the  Study  of  a  Pastor,  by  Gardiner  Spring,  Pastor  of  the  Brick  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  City  of  New  York,  1  vol.  12mo., ....  56 

THE  BACKSLIDER,  by  Andrew  Fuller,  with  an  Introduction  by  John 

Angell  James,  ISmo.,  -  -  -  - -  31 

SERMONS,  by  Hugh  Blair,  D.  D.,  to  which  is  prefixed  the  Life  and  Char- 
acter of  the  Authoi,  by  James  Finlayson,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  8vo.  -  -  -  2  00 

OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  WORLD  TO  THE  BIBLE,  by  Gardiner 

Spring,  D.  D..  1  vol.  12mo.,  -  -  -  •>  -  v  „-  -  -  -  -  1  00 

A  VISIT  TO  NORTHERN  EUROPE,  or  Sketches,  Descriptive,  Histori- 
cal, Political,  and  Moral,  of  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Finland, 
and  the  Free  cities  of  Hamburg  and  Lubeck ;  containing  notices  of  the 
Manners  and  Customs,  Commerce,  Manufactures,  Arts,  and  Sciences, 
Education,  Literature,  and  Religion  of  those  Countries  and  Cities.  By 
the  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  with  Maps  and  numerous  Engravings,  2  vols. 
12mo..  -  -  -  vl-  -  -  -  .  .  ....  .  .  2  00 

HEROINES  OF  SACRED  HISTORY,  by  Mrs.  Steel,  1vol.  18mo.,        -          50 

A  SUMMER  JOURNEY  IN  THE  WEST,  by  Mrs  Steel,  author  of"  He- 
roines of  Sacred  History,"  1  vol.  12moM  -  •  -  -  -  -  50 

EMANUEL  ON  THE  CROSS,  AND  IN  THE  GARDEN,  by  R.  P.  Bud- 

dicom,  1  vol.  12mo.  -  -  -  --  -  -  -  .  -  -  63 

THE  FAMILY  OF  BETHANY,  by  L.  Bonnot:  with  an  Introductory  Es- 
say, by  the  Rev.  Hugh  White,  1  vol.  18mo., 38 

THE  ADOPTED  CHILD,  or  the  necessity  of  Early  Piety,  by  the  author 

of  "Emma,  or  the  Lost  Found,"  1  vol.  ISmo.,  *  .  .  .  31 

THE  STORY  OF  GRACE,  the  Little  Sufferer,  1  vol.  18mo.,  31 

ADOLPHUS  AND  JAMES,  by  the  Rev.  Napoleon  Roussel,  translated  from 

the  French,  I  vol.  ISmo.,  ---------  31 

THE  LILY  OF  THE  VALLEY,  by  Mrs.  Sherwood,      ....          31 
SHANTY,  THE  BLACKSMITH,  by  Mrs.  Sherwood,      -        -        -        -          50 


CATALOGUE    OF   BOOKS. 

THE  TRAVELLER,  or  the  Wonders  of  Art,  1  vol.  18mo.         ...          33 

MEMOIR  OF  THE  TELLSTORM,the  first  Swedish  Missionary  to  Lap- 
land, with  an  Appendix  giving  an  account  of  the  Stockholm  Mission, 
by  the  Rev.  George  Scott,  I  vol.  18mo.,         ------          31 

FLOWER  FADED,  by  the  Rev.  John  Angell  James,  1  vol.  ISmo.,  -        -          38 
MEMOIR  OF  MARTHA,  by  John  Angell  James,  1  vol.  18mo.,         -        -          31 
MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  LATHROP  WINSLOW,  1  vol.  18mo., 
CLOSING  SCENES  OF  THE   LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  WISDOM,  illus- 
trating the  usefulness  of  Tract  Distribution,  and  Sabbath  School  In- 
struction, 1  vol.  18mo.,  -        .....-.-.          25 

THE  SABBATH  SCHOOL  TEACHER'S  PATTERN,  AND  A  WORD 

FOR  ALL,  by  John  Angell  James,       -      >- 25 

COUNSELS  TO  THE  YOUNG,  by  Rev.  A.  Alexander.  D.  D.,       -        -          25 

SELF  CULTIVATION,  by  Tryon  Edwards, 25 

EARLY  PIETY,  by  Rev.  Jacob  Abbott, -  25 

THE  CHRISTIAN  POCKET  COMPANION,  selected  from  the  works  of 

President  Edwards  and  otheis, -        •»         25 

The  above  four  vols.  32mo.,  in  gilt  edges,  at  31  cts.  each, 
HISTORY  OF  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  by  the  Rev.  Shelden  Dib- 
ble, Missionary  to  those  Islands,  1  vol.  12mo., 75 

GENEVA  AND  ROME,  by  S.  R.  L.  Gaussen,  1  vol.  18mo.,     ...          25 
REFLECTIONS  ON  FL  O  WE  RS,  by  Rev.  James  He  rvey,  author  of  "Medi- 
tations Among  the  Tombs,"  1  vol.  18mo.,      ..----          31 
TRANSPLANTED    FLOWERS,  or  Memoirs  of  Mrs.   Rumff,  and  the 
Duchesse  de  Broglie,  with  an  appendix,  by  the   Rev.  Robert  Baird,  1 

vol.  18mo., -        -        -        -          38 

HINTS  FOR  MOTHERS,  by  a  Lady,  1  vol.  18mo., 31 

A  TALE  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS,  or  Memoirs  of  a  French  Refugee  Fam- 
ily ;  translated  from  the  Manuscripts  of  James  Fontaine,  by  a  Lady — 
with  an  introduction,  by  Francis  L.  Hawkes,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  18mo.,  -  50 

ROCKY  ISLAND,  and  other  Parables,  by  Samuel  Wilberforce,  M.  A.,  1  vol. 

ISmo., 38 

THE  LITTLE  WANDERERS,  by  Sam'l  Wilberforce,  M.  A.,  1  vol.  ISmo.          25 
THE  KING  AND  HIS  SERVANTS,  by  Samuel  Wilberforce,  M.  A.,  1 

vol.  18mo.,    - '       -   ~     *    . 25 

THE  PROPHET'S  GUARD,  by  Samuel  Wilberforce,  M.  A.,  1  vol.  18mo,  25 

ADVICE  TO  A  YOUNG  CHRISTIAN,  by  a  village  Pastor,  with  an  In- 
troduction, by  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  (new  edition),  1  vol.  18mo.,      -        -          38 
THE  WAY  OF  SAFETY,  by  the  Rev.  L.  E.  Lathrop,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  18mo.,        38 
BIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  SAVIOUR  AND  HIS  APOSTLES,  with  Por- 
traits done  on  Steel,  1  vol.  18mo.,  50 
POETRY  FOR  THE  YOUNG,  in  two  parts,  Moral  and  Miscellaneous,  1 

vol.  18mo., 38 

THE  WORLD'S  RELIGION,  as  contrasted  with  genuine  Christianity,  by 

Lady  Colquhoun,  1  vol.  18mo., 50 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CITIZEN,  by  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Eddy,  of  Newark,  1  vol. 

12mo., 50 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  ASTRONOMY,  designed  as  an  Introduction  to  the 

Study,  1  vol.  18mo., 25 

MURRAY'S  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  ENGLISH  READER,  I2mo., 

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